I can’t remember what this fish is. I got it last week and put it in the freezer, but I’ve got no idea what it is. I’m guessing… actually I’m not guessing, for the life of me I can’t remember and a quick search has revealed nothing, so come on - please tell me!

Ingredients
2 small pieces of fish (similar to the lame picture on the right)
grapeseed oil
1/2 zucchini, peeled (I mean keep peeling with a peeler to get the slices thin)
1/2 cucumber, peeled
1/2 shallot, cut into strips
6 chives, cut in half
lemon juice
Dressing
teaspoon mirin
teaspoon soy sauce
tablespoon grapeseed oil

Method
Combine zucchini, cucumber, shallots and chives in bowl and squeeze a good bit of lemon juice and one drop of grapeseed oil.

Heat some more grapseed oil in a fry pan and add the fish and a few grains of rock salt. Cook quickly for about 1 1/2 mins on each side. Now, the nerd thinks the dish would taste better if it was all cold and I agree with him. So, leave the fish to cool for about 20 mins.

Then place the greens in the bottom of the bowl add the fish and dress with the ‘dressing’. A super lite entree that leaves you wanting more, just like foreplay.

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I was feeling like cooking a creamy dish with some chicken breasts I had and since we just got a delivery of some yummy white wine I decided it had to be French. I’ve borrowed some bits from Elizabeth David and her French cookbook - the creamy sauce, I may have bastardized it by adding the white wine, but I have to say it tasted divine.

My timing is a bit crap, so I cooked my greens when I had free time, rather than at the end so they were a bit cold, but hey, it’s still summer here so it’s not that bad.

Ingredients
4 baby desiree potatoes, quartered
1 tablespoon goose-fat
2 chicken breasts
some seasonal green vegetables, I used a bunch of asparagus, a handful of green beans and half head broccoli
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
250 ml white wine
250 ml water
500 ml cream
2 egg yokes
parsley and chives

How it works
Most Excellent Roast Potatoes
Heat the oven to highest temperature. Put your potatoes in a pot of water and bring to boil. When the potatoes have boiled for five minutes drain, melt the goose fat in an oven tray for a minute. Drain the potatoes and then to melted goose fat with a little bit of salt. Give the tray a good shake so the potatoes are covered in the melted fat and salt. The oven should be at roughly 220. The potatoes will take 30 mins. If you have some sort of super oven that cooks at more than 220 (celsius) then perhaps you might want to keep an eye on them.

Green Vegetables
Boil a pot of salted water. Add the broccoli and beans. After 1 1/2 mins add the asparagus. Cook for 1 min (or maybe a bit more), then drain and plunge into cold water. I find it takes two  rinses to stop the vegetables from cooking. Drain and set aside.

Chicken Breasts
Season the chicken breasts with some rock salt (or other chunky salt) and some pepper. Fry or grill with some olive oil for about 15 mins until cooked. I cooked mine in a fry pan on very low heat. You don’t want it too hot as chicken breasts are not an ideal size for grilling, being thicker in the middle. If you’re dieting you could always poach them, but then you wouldn’t be having this cream sauce either!

The Piece De Resistance
Melt the butter in a saucepan. When melted and bubbly take off the heat and stir in the flour. When combined and smooth return back to heat and add the water and wine. Stir until sauce starts to thicken, then add the cream. Stir and make sure heat is very low. It should take about 15 to 20 mins to thicken up. Just before you’re ready to serve add in two egg yolks (note these should be whisked and if you have some lemon juice handy, whisk a bit in with the egg yolks). I know this seems like a strange addition, but the sauce ended up being divine, so just go with it. Stir in the yolks for a minute then turn off heat and add chopped parsley.

So serve your green vegetables with chicken breasts and then coat with creamy sauce. We had left over, but if we were feeling really naughty you could finish it off. But instead I’m going to put it in the freezer and use it on a rainy day. I served the potatoes desperately as I wanted them to stay crispy.

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This recipe is super adaptable. I usually make it with lentils and yogurt, but I was afraid of missing fig season so had to create something. I love figs in balsamic, I’ve tried the other classic recipes with mozzarella and honey, but I just can’t get past cooking them.

This recipe is really quick by the way. You can make it all in under 30 mins.

Ingredients
300g lamb fillets
ground spices such as coriander, cumin, garam masala and tumeric
1/2 cup cous cous
4 baby carrots, halfed and halfed again
8 snow peas, halfed
3 figs, halfed
handful of pinenuts
tablespoon of butter
tablespoon white wine
tablespoon brown sugar
tablespoon honey
balsamic vinegar

How it all goes together
First you want to bring some water to boil for your snow peas. Then boil the kettle for some water for your cous cous. Add half a cup of boiling water to your cous cous and put it aside.

On low heat melt the butter, when melted tip half into a cup. Add wine to remaining butter in saucepan. Cook for a few minutes until the smell of wine has evapourated. Add pine nuts and cook for another minute or so and then remove from heat.

Your water should be boiling for the carrots, pop them in for a minute then add the snowpeas. After about 30 seconds drain and run under cold water, drain again and put aside.

OK on to the lamb, rub all of your spices into the lamb. Steady on the tumeric. Put into a frypan of hot oil (olive oil) and cook for about 1 1/2 mins on each side. Take out lamb to rest and return to your frypan. Put a good lug of balsamic vinegar in the pan - it will sizzle and smoke lots so you might want to turn off your fire alarm. Then put your figs in, put a bit more balsamic in and then spoon in your brown sugar. I have it on a medium heat.

Whilst they sizzle away contently, return to that cup of melted butter. Add a tablespoon of honey and cook gently in a pan until honey and butter have melted.

Ready to serve, slice your lamb. Put a fork through your cous cous and then tip in the pine nut butter wine mixture, mix a bit more with the fork. Add your carrots and snow peas to the butter honey mixture.

Put the cous cous onto 2 plates, stack with the carrots and snow peas and their sauce, top with the lamb and then put your figs on last.

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I’m going through a Japanese phase at the moment. After reading a book about their diet and all the health benefits, I went on a bit of a shopping spree and got some japanese cookbooks. So we’re eating Japanese around twice a week. As I’m just starting out, it usually only means two to three courses. I can’t quite manage five, even though everything I’ve cooked so far is pretty quick. So tonight was trout followed soup. The trout was great and really took under 30 mins, the soup not so tasty. So I’ve altered the ingredients to what I’m pretty sure will taste much better.

BTW the fish is excellent…

Ingredients
1 Ocean trout - sliced in half
1/2 cup bamboo shoots, cut thinly
1 carrot, cut in half and sliced thinly
a few strips ginger sliced thinly
4 shallots, sliced thinly in strips
oil (I’ve been using Rapeseed Oil)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon soy
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups dashi*
1 tablespoon cornflour

Method
Stir fry vegetables (minus the shallots) in a little oil for a couple of minutes. You don’t want to let them get soft. Add dashi, sugar, soy and rice wine vinegar. Bring to boil and then simmer. Whilst this is simmering fry your fish. Dust lightly in flour and then put in a pot of hot oil (about 5 cm’s worth). The fish will only take three minutes so you if your timing is skillful you can go straight from simmering sauce to fish. When fish is cooked, transfer to paper towels. Mix cornflour with one tablespoon of water, add to simmering sauce - now do you see where the gooey came from? Cook sauce for another minute or so and you’re done.

Don’t forget for the Japanese presentation is just as important as the food, so transfer the fish to a sexy dish and top gently with the vegetables in simmering sauce.

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Now onto the other dish. Admittedly, this one was not a success, but I’ve altered it so I’m sure next time it will be better. If it still fails just add more meat oh, and sugar, truly, can’t fail.

Ingredients
150g thinly sliced beef
200g udon noodles
2 cups dashi*
2 tablespoons soy
1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons mirin
4 shallots sliced thinly
bunch bok choy
sesame seeds

Method
Cook udon noodles in boiling water for about 2 mins or until tender. Drain and divide into two bowls. Heat dashi until boiling, then add mirin, soy and sugar. Turn down to simmer and stir until sugar dissolves. Simmer for two mins and then add beef and bok choy. It will take about two mins for that to cook and you’re ready. Pour over your noodles and chuck on some sesame seeds for decoration.

*Dashi (Soup Stock)

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It’s summer and as I live near the beach I often feel a bit tropical and Hawaiian. As my moods are reflected in my cooking and today was a beautiful Bondi day, I felt the urge to create a tropical curry with the fruit of the moment, mango.

Ingredients
200g red snapper, cut into bite sizes
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
oil
half pumpkin cut into little bite size pieces
1 can 400ml coconut milk
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons fish sauce
4 lime leaves, cut into slivers
1 mango cut into slices
coriander
1 1/2 cups jasmine rice

Instructions
Put a bit of oil in a heavy based pan, add the curry paste and fry for roughly a minute until the paste has released it’s fragrance. Add turmeric and ground coriander, stir for a few seconds to release more fragrance. Add coconut milk and stir for a minute. Add water, fish sauce, lime leaves, mango and pumpkin. Slowly bring to the boil and then simmer for 15 mins until pumpkin is cooked through.

At this time start to cook some rice in boiling water. The rice should only take you 10 mins if the water is already boiling. A tip I learned from the geek is to wash the rice in boiling water (or hot water from the tap) in a sieve once it’s finished cooked. It always delivers great rice.

When pumpkin is cooked, add fish and cook for under 5 minutes.

Serve on rice with coriander sprinkled over the top.

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Welcome to the world of innuendo and food. Once a dangerous liaison, on this blog they will be presented as something of a necessity to truly enjoy one of the remaining rituals of mankind. Mmm…ok it’s after dinner and a (few) lovely glass(es) of Vasse Felix. So on with the show.

Hopefully you’ve arrived here through the almighty power of the search engine (that’s my real bread and butter - oh the puns just keep on rolling…), anyway it’s 2 in the afternoon and you’re desperately seeking something sensuous for dinner tonight. Maybe you’ve got a hot date coming over and you want to see if your granny was right when she said “the way to a mans heart is through his stomach” or maybe you got carried away trying to impress the boss and somehow managed to invite her and her new husband over to dinner, or even better - dinner for one, some jazz, a glass of wine and your own thoughts in the kitchen.

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