Fish Tacos and How To Achieve Work Life Balance in 7 minutes or less

I have been muttering to myself all morning about a promo for the Martha Stewart show this week. Get ready for it: if you are lucky enough to see the show on Tuesday, you are in for a treat: "Chefs Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert make coq au vin. Plus, how to get work-life balance and adorable Westminster dogs." I'm sure the coq au vin will be great and the dogs will be cute, but really, does anyone believe we can crochet up some work-life balance in the seven minutes between two commercial breaks?

Having done some time in a TV production office, I can tell you that this story came from some bright spark announcing in a production meeting that everyone seems to be talking about work-life balance. From there it would have been a very quick process of sourcing some interview talent (probably someone who has written a book on the subject), and writing up a brief. Today, the interviewee will be wheeled on, deliver their pithy pearls of wisdom and disappear again before a single mother has had time to make a school lunch while dialling in to a conference call. Pretending that this is a topic that can be conquered in seven minutes is not helping anyone, especially not those on the front lines fighting for work-life balance.

To me and my female friends, work-life balance is one of those intractable, thorny subjects. It means different things to different women and even different things to the same woman at different points in her life. It means compromises in the office and at home. It means choices that are hard, whichever way you go. It means second shifts and mother guilt, bruised egos and careers abandoned because balance proved impossible. In fact, I was laughing with a friend this morning about finding work that lets you be at home after school, and any time a kid is sick; that lets you have all school holidays off; that is pretty flexible so you can get to sports carnivals and Christmas concerts; that values your contribution on output not hours in the office. Oh, and we still want creative, fulfilling roles that makes us feel valued. Where are these work-life jobs? Not with Martha Stewart, I would bet. And the secret to finding them or maintaining a work-life balance is not going to be solved with a quick TV how-to. Even with Martha. OK, now that I have that out of my system, onto the tacos........

Whether or not you are struggling with work-life issues, whether you are time-rich or time-poor, these tacos are a fast, easy dinner. When I first saw the title in the current issue of Donna Hay, I imagined some sort of simmer of heavily-spiced fish, in the same way you simmer mince for beef tacos. I was wrong - the fillets of fish are dry-fried briefly in a pan, and then served in a tortilla with a punchy salsa, some coleslaw, pickled onions and avocado. I skipped the chilli marinade on the fish for the kids, and they also avoided the salsa, and the onions. The result was a good dinner for all of us: adults with the spices dialled up; kids opting for a plainer variety. A welcome change that was perfect for a hot night.

This was one of my choices for this month's We Made It challenge focusing at Donna Hay Feb / Mar 2010. If you are tired of under-utilising your cookbooks, feel free to join Melinda at Melbourne Larder and me - just drop us a line.




Fish and Coleslaw Tacos
adapted from Donna Hay Feb / Mar 2010, serves 4

2 tbl olive oil
1 tsp chilli flakes
sea salt
4 snapper fillets (approx 140 g each)
8 tortillas (Donna has a recipe for them in the mag, but that fell into my too-hard basket)
3 tbl mayonnaise
1 tbl white wine vinegar
1 cup finely shredded white cabbage
1 avocado, diced
coriander to garnish

Place mayonnaise and vinegar in a bowl and stir until well-combined. If it is too thick to tip from a spoon, thin it with a little water. Season with salt and pepper. Add cabbage, toss to coat, and place in the fridge.

Combine oil and chilli and salt and brush over fish fillets. (If this is for children, omit the chilli). Heat a non-stick frying pan over high heat. Cook fish fillets for 3 minutes on each side or until cooked through (you can tell it is done when it starts to flake easily). Serve in tortillas with coleslaw, pickled onion (see below), salsa cruda (see below) and avocado.

Salsa cruda:
Combine 250g chopped cherry tomatoes, 1 green onion, 2 tbls lime juice (I used lemon because I forgot to buy limes and it was fine), 2 tbls olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, 1 green chilli and sea salt to taste.

Pickled onion:
Place 2 red onions, 2 tbls white wine vinegar and 1 tbl olive oil and sea salt to taste in a non-metallic bowl. Allow to stand for 10 mins or until onion starts to wilt. Keeps well in the fridge.

Salmon, Potato and Bean Salad With Horseradish Pesto

I'm hot. Very hot. Smoking hot. But before you get the wrong idea about me completely, let me reassure you that it's not just me. The kids are hot. The dog is hot. The house is hot. Even the cold water is hot. I'm not joking. Weather wise, February is my least favourite month in Sydney. because it is so stinking hot and humid that to walk anywhere feels like a swim. Picture a city that is completely sweat-soaked, and breathing hard, and you have a good idea of what I see around me.

Poet Les Murray describes this much better than I ever could in "A Retrospect of Humidity":
"the Lycra-bulging surf drips from non-swimmers
miles from shore, and somehow includes soil.
Skins, touching, soak each other. Skin touching
any surface wets that and itself
in a kind of mutual digestion.
Throbbing heads grow lianas of nonsense."
So that's what my head has been full of: lianas of nonsense. Unrelenting rain last week only made matters worse, as the evaporating puddles on the ground have added to the dampness in the air. I know in a couple of weeks, temperatures will subside, the humidity will lift and we will all feel better, but for now, we are all flattened by a steamer.

No surprises then that I am currently drawn to salads. Salads for dinner have been a welcome development in the last few months, made possible because my children have finally moved beyond the "er yuk it's green" stage. (If you listen carefully, you can hear wild cheering from me). I used to find myself picking the finely chopped parsley off pasta in a restaurant because the kids thought green was so contaminating that nothing could be eaten with even a green fleck in it. I slowly eased them into iceberg lettuce ("hey kids, it's just crunchy water"), and from there gradually started expanding the variety of leaves. They don't love it, but they will eat it. The stronger bitter leaves are still a bridge too far, but one they will eat is baby spinach. In case you were wondering, when I first gave them spinach, I didn't tell them it was spinach. I was worried that the word "spinach" would sound kid alarm bells, in a way that the taste would not. I just said it was a "new leaf" for them to try. Worked for me, anyway.

This salad caught my eye in the latest Donna Hay Feb / Mar 2010. It is quick and easy, and with the potatoes, it really is sufficiently filling for dinner. Smoked salmon fillets are available in the supermarket, so your only cooking is the potatoes and beans. The rest can be thrown together. Even the pesto - just use store bought and stir in some horseradish, if making your own seems like torture in this heat. Incidentally, Donna's horseradish pesto was tasty, although I upped the amount of horseradish to give it a bit of extra zing. You won't be surprised to hear that the kids wanted to have theirs without the pesto. No complaints from me: you've gotta walk before you can run.

If you are cooking anything from Donna Hay Feb / Mar 2010 this month, email me or Melinda from Melbourne Larder. We'd love to have you join us on our We Made It challenge.



Salmon and Potato Salad with Horseradish Pesto
adapted from Donna Hay Magazine Feb/Mar 10
serves 4

750g baby potatoes
300g green beans, trimmed
2 x 200g hot smoked salmon fillets
60g baby spinach leaves
Horseradish pesto, recipe below

Boil potatoes until tender (12-15 mins). Remove from water and cool slightly. Boil beans for two mins until tender (you can use the potato water). Drain and cool slightly. Slice potatoes and place in a serving bowl with salmon, beans and spinach leaves. Drizzle with pesto, and some extra olive oil, if you would like to use it. Serve.

Horseradish pesto: (you can use store bought and stir in some horseradish)
2 1/2 cups basil leaves
2 -3 tbls bottled horseradish, depending on taste (not horseradish cream)
2 tbl pine nuts
2 tbl finely grated parmesan
1/4 cup olive oil

To make the pesto, put all ingredients, plus salt and pepper in he bowl of a small food processor and process until smooth.

Fig and Mozzarella Salad

I have written before about why I like Donna Hay recipes. Apart from the delightful photography and styling of her magazines and cookbooks, she earns her place in my kitchen pantheon for the utility of her recipes. If you are time-pressed, but still like to put a "from scratch" dinner on the table every night, Donna's your girl. Her dishes are good-tasting and good-looking, and simple enough that there is usually no possible margin of error. Most of her recipes have only a handful of ingredients, and none of them are ever too difficult to source, even at 6.45pm on a Wednesday night. While other recipe writers might challenge you more, with demanding technique, or wow you with exotic flavour combinations, there are days when a simple Donna salad is unsurpassable.

Like today. I was racing around like a mad thing trying to get 75 things done and it was only 9am. I needed petrol, and as I stood, filling my car, I was listing the day's tasks in my head. After about 20 seconds, I started to panic about how I was going to get everything done. The only option - breathe deeply and just get on with it. So I hopped into the car and headed off to the supermarket. It was only once I was a couple of kilometres away, I realised I hadn't actually paid for my petrol. A new urgent task - return to the petrol station and pay before I was thrown in jail or hunted down by a current affairs program. By the time I got back to the petrol station one of the attendants was busily reviewing the camera tape for my licence plate details. Happy ending. Stolen petrol paid for. No jail. No news crews. Repeat after me "Breathe deeply and do less".

This month's We Made It challenge is focusing on Donna Hay Feb / Mar 10. The We Made It challenge began because Melinda from Melbourne Larder and I both wanted to put our cooking magazines to use, instead of treating them as bedtime reading or coffee table decorations. After mining Gourmet Traveller in December and Delicious in January, we have arrived at Donna in Feb. I must admit that I was expecting a beautiful Valentine's spread in this month's magazine and instead it is all about keeping life easy in summer: 50 Fast Dinners, a feature on an amazing array of tacos and some luscious fruit desserts. But maybe the gods (or Donna) knew what they were sending me: I think this is probably a good time for me to be concentrating on keeping things simple.

This fig salad fits that mantra: figs + buffalo mozzarella + baby rocket. I wound up also adding some crisped pancetta just because it needed using. Donna's dressing was equally simple - just caramelized red wine vinegar. On a crazy busy day, this is a great salad recipe to keep in your back pocket.

Fig and Mozzarella Salad
adapted from Donna Hay Magazine Feb / Mar 2010

6 fresh figs, halved
180g buffalo mozzarella torn into chunks
80g baby rocket leaves
100g pancetta, cooked in a 180C oven until crisp (5 mins)
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup water
1 tbl caster sugar
2 tbl olive oil

To make the dressing, mix vinegar, water and sugar together in a small saucepan over high heat. Stir to dissolve sugar, then boil until it seems syrupy (2-3 mins). Set aside and allow to cool (pouring it into a cold bowl will speed the process). Arrange figs, mozzarella and rocket in a salad bowl (with pancetta if using). Drizzle with glaze and olive oil.

A Stuffed Kitchen plus Chilled Pea Soup With Mint Sorbet

Yesterday, I was reading Casual Kitchen, a cooking blog that does a great job of distilling a lot of other cooking blogs, as well as always providing interesting food for thought. Daniel was talking about what a relief it was to be in a kitchen that was 70-80% packed for a move because he did not have to contemplate which coffee mugs or wine glasses to use as all but the last two had been packed. The basics were to hand, but none of the peripheral stuff, which was inspiring him to cook more not less. Daniel challenged his readers to contemplate what could they get rid of and not miss.

So, would I be better off getting rid of 70% of my kitchen equipment? What do I have that I could get rid of and not miss? Certainly I have a lot of platters - we got married in the Year of the Platter - and I could probably get rid of half of them, and still have plenty, but I won't. Wear and tear is slowly taking its toll, and I suspect this cupboard will get emptied by natural attrition. Appliances? I use all my appliances regularly (toaster, blender, food processor, stick blender, toasted sandwich maker, and the hero, my Kitchenaid stand mixer), so nothing to ditch there. In another cupboard, I have a couple of salad bowls, about 10 mixing bowls of different sizes (some of which also double up as heat proof bowls for melting chocolate), about half a dozen baking dishes, a couple of souffle bowls (that also get used for salads, and serving from time to time) and a salad spinner. They all work hard for me all year.

Onto the less used items: I have two large colanders - and yes, I could probably get by with one - plus three tiny colanders that I use for jobs like rinsing salted capers, but are by no means essential. I have a mortar and pestle, that gets used maybe three or four times a year. More embarrassingly, I have two full drawers of baking equipment: a cupcake tin, a mini muffin tin, a friand tin, a madeleine silicone sheet, two springform tins, six cake tins, a swag of cookie cutters and a cookie press, a couple of square tins for brownies or slices, oven trays, a couple of loaf tins, a bundt tin and a mini-bundt tin. A lot of this was given to me, or came from my grandmothers' kitchen when she was packing up her house, and it all gets used, at least a few times a year. My least favourite drawer is the plasticware, which is in a symbiotic relationship with my freezer - when the freezer is full, the plastics drawer is half empty, when the freezer is empty, the plastics drawer won't shut. And the plastic drink bottles appear to be breeding with the takeaway box lids. I keep throwing them out and more and more turn up.

The entertaining-related items are probably the ones that don't really earn their living in my kitchen: the "good" dinner plates, the cake stand, the ham stand, the butter curler (inherited from my grandmother), a cherry pipper, tea cups, dessert forks. In a world, where there are people who don't know where their next meal will come from, it does seem wrong and indulgent to have so much, and I feel awkward about it now I am looking at it all. But would I ditch any of them? The simple answer is, not as long as I have the cupboards to hold them. I love to entertain and it really makes me happy to use the things that have come to me from other people, other times, other places. I feel a strong sense of continuity when I hold them. I also feel that the way you make a happy house is to fill it up with memories. If a fire took them from me, I probably would not replace any of these things, but while I have them, they are helping me build those memories. Sorry Daniel, but I don't agree. Two coffee cups just wouldn't do it for me.

Now onto some food for the very sticky weather we are having. Cold pea soup is a favourite of mine, and I already have one chilled pea soup on the blog. This recipe popped out at me from the Dec 90 / Jan 10 issue of Delicious (part of my We Made It Challenge with Melinda from Melbourne Larder), and I wanted to try it because of the mint gelato. The soup recipe is very plain - peas, potato, onion, lettuce and stock - so make sure you use really good (preferably homemade) stock, or else your soup won't taste as good as it should. The mint gelato is delicious, and when I make it again, I will make it in a deeper plastic box, as the large and shallow box the recipe called for meant it was impossible to get pretty balls of gelato. The taste was great, regardless of how shambolic my gelato balls looked. And make sure you do make the gelato: the soup without it is pretty bland, but together, they are light and refreshing, and completely perfect for this muggy weather.

Green Pea Soup with Mint Gelato
from Delicious, Dec 09 / Jan 10

Mint Gelato:
1/4 cup castor sugar
1/3 cup water
2 tsp grated lemon zest plus 1 tbsp lemon juice (or a little more)
1 cup plus 2 tbls slivered fresh mint plus extra leaves to garnish (forgot those for the photo!)
½ cup mascarpone cheese
1 egg white

Put sugar, water, lemon zest, juice and mint in a saucepan over low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Increase heat to medium, and simmer for 2 mins. Cool syrup and strain, pushing down on solids to extract as much flavour as possible. Stir cooled mint syrup into mascarpone. Freeze in a plastic box (deep enough for you to use a melon baller to scoop the gelato) for at least 2 hours. Place frozen mixture in a food processor with egg white, and extra mint. Puree and refreeze for at least four hours.

Soup:
2 cups of green peas (frozen is fine),
1 large peeled potato, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup shredded lettuce (iceberg)
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
¼ cup thickened cream

Combine potato, onion, lettuce and stock in pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add peas and simmer for 2 more mins. Puree soup in a blender until smooth. Add cream and season to taste. Chill for at least a couple of hours. Ladle soup into bowls and top each with a small scoop of gelato.

Melon Salad With Ginger Syrup

Today is Australia Day, which almost officially marks the end of the nation's holidays. Like the French, who effectively shut down for August, much of Australia has been on leave for the month between Christmas and Australia Day. Tomorrow, the offices will be full, and some schools will open their doors for the new year, with the rest to follow on Thursday. It feels like the new year starts on January 27th, with a nation turning over new leaves, starting new pages, and so, at least in my mind, now is the time for resolutions.

I love the process of making resolutions and the notion that a new year will bring clean starts and new opportunities, and possibly a shinier, better me. When I was 21 I gave up smoking as a New Year resolution, and stuck to it, so I really value the opportunity that fresh starts offer. The difference now is that I am old enough to know that no good will come from attempting a resolution from January 1, when I still have more than three weeks of holidays, and its favourite sins of sloth and greed, to get through. So from tomorrow, my resolutions for the year ahead include:
- finish the year slimmer and fitter than I started it (a perennial for everyone, isn't it?)
- blog three times a week (maybe a stretch target of four times per week?)
- work on my photography (you must all be glad to hear that)
- start a gratitude journal (more on this later)
- get a full medical check up (in case you're worried, nothing is wrong, I just know that once you are in your 40s you are meant to do these things from time to time)
- throw out less food. I tried to do that this year, but could certainly get a lot better at making use of the leftovers in our fridge.
- cook more vegetarian meals for the family.
- start a herb garden.
- and the big scary one: contemplate the future and what I should be doing in it.
I promise to let you know how I go.....

This week, still being in my slothful holiday mode, I made this cool and refreshing fruit salad. The recipe is one I clipped a long time ago (it is in Vol 1 of my recipe clippings), and I know it came from a Martha Stewart magazine because of the typeface, but unfortunately I did not note the date. I served it for brunch, but it could just as easily be a dessert, or even a lunch, served with some ham. The recipe calls for a canary melon, but they are rarely seen here, so I just skipped that. Martha also suggests tossing through the zest of 2 oranges, but I forgot to do that (I mentioned the sloth already, didn't I?) The end result is light and fresh and tasty, and definitely one of my favourite fruit salads.

Do you have a favourite fruit salad?

Melon With Orange Ginger Syrup

adapted from Martha Stewart

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, strained (or 1 cup unsweetened orange juice), plus zest of two oranges 1 cup sugar (I reduced this to 3/4 of a cup) 1-2cms fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons Cointreau (I only used 1 tbl - depends how much you like Cointreau!)
1 small honeydew melon, cut in half, seeded
1 small canary melon, cut in half, seeded (I couldn't find this so I skipped it)
1 rock melon, cut in half, seeded Mint sprigs, for garnish

Place the orange juice, sugar, and ginger in a small saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil. Let simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved and syrup has thickened, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat; strain syrup into a clean bowl; add the Cointreau; stir to combine. Put into the fridge, until syrup is cold. Using different sizes of melon ballers, cut balls from the melons. Place balls in a medium bowl; add the cold syrup, and zest if using. Toss to combine.

Mango-misu - Tiramisu's Tropical Cousin

We are deep in mango season at the moment. Prices are reasonable, the mangos are sweet, juicy and abundant, and we are all trying to enjoy them as much as possible before they disappear in another month or so. In fact, scarcely any of my shopping trolleys for the last month haven't contained at least one mango. In case you were wondering, that's me you can hear humming "mmmmmmangos". So you won't be surprised to hear that the cover of this month's Delicious sang to me like the worst kind of siren, an evil mango and cream toting siren.


The cover dessert was a tropical fruit take on the classic tiramisu: a mango-misu. And I have some questions: "Oh why evil publishing geniuses are the most deadent desserts saved for the cover? Is it so they can endlessly haunt you, in every supermarket, in every newsagent ??" I'm sure that lots of people found themselves, just like me, reduced to buying enormous volumes of mascarpone and cream and mangos because they just COULD NOT STOP thinking about this dessert. And I can report that it really was delicious, as well as extremely rich and filling. We had it with some old friends, and we all loved it, even if we were largely unable to move after having a slice. In fact, this was a good thing as it made it it easier for me to force leftovers on them before they could escape. (There was no way that I was going to allow them to leave without taking enough of the leftovers to use as a door stop. That much temptation cannot be left in this house. Never.) Incidentally, I can see myself making this for many summers to come - probably not more than once a summer, but as an indulgent treat on a hot night, it is hard to beat. Even better, it was easy peasy to do.

Melinda from Melbourne Larder and I are exploring the Dec/ Jan edition of Delicious, and trying to cook as much as possible from this volume of our underutilised food porn. If, like us, you have food magazines lying around that have migrated to become bed-time reading instead of cooking inspiration, grab Delicious this month and join in. Drop either one of us a line; we'd love to have you join our "We Made It" challenge.




Mangomisu
adapted from Delicious magazine, Issue 89, Dec/Jan

500g mascarpone cheese
600ml thickened cream
1/3 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup Cointreau - I ran out of cointreau, so I topped up with some brandy
Juice of two oranges
300g savoiardi (sponge finger biscuits) - I used almost 500g of biscuits in a 25cm springform
3 mangoes, sliced 1cm thick

Line the base of a 22cm springform cake pan with plastic wrap or baking paper. Place the cheese, cream, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and beat until thick and well combined.

Combine the Cointreau and orange juice in a separate bowl. Dip half the sponge fingers into the juice, and create a layer in the base of the cake pan. Then, spread 1/3 of the cream mixture, top with 1/3 mango slices, and repeat the process. Top with remaining cream mixture and top with mango slices. Cover and chill overnight. To serve, remove the cake from the in and transfer to a platter.

Chilli Mud Crab for a Date Night

This week a very unexpected thing happened - both children were suddenly invited away to the country with friends. For two nights. As far as I can remember, which admittedly isn't that far, this is only the second or third time we have had both girls away simultaneously for more than a night, in more than a decade. Yes, we have been away without the kids, and yes one or both of them have regular sleepovers at friends' houses, but both away together for 48 hours is different. Especially because Darling Husband and I are still at home, which makes it much more noticeable - the rhythm of the house changes completely. For me it has been liberating, but a little strange. It also focuses the mind a bit on how life soon will be as the children emerge into the wide world, and Mum and Dad are left behind.

Right now, I feel we are drawing to the close of a lovely period, where the children are old enough to be reasonable, interesting and articulate, but not yet old enough to be revolting, vile teenagers. And I know it is coming - if I was a vile teenager, why would I imagine that they won't be? Both daughters are probably already practicing the teenager-y rolling of the eyes in front of the mirror. The angst and door slamming must be coming soon too. Already, they point out to me how embarrassing I am (I make sure that I only take glee in this; in fact I tell them that I live to humiliate them - in a good way of course). But the little girls in them are still clearly there too; the one who crawls into your lap and sobs because life didn't go the way she wanted it today; or the one who still looks for reassurance and validation as she starts to make her own decisions. Every time one of them snuggles into me like a little child, the thought crosses my mind, that maybe this is the last time they will cuddle up to me like that. I know that we will still hug or hold each other, but it makes me sad to think the nuzzling will soon go. Such a bittersweet time.....

But, let's not pretend that the children being out of the house for just a couple of days is even a little bit sad. Darling Husband and I got two date nights, one night at home featuring chilli crab, some good conversation and a little TV, the other out at a show and then on to an alfresco dinner on a gorgeous balmy night. Plus some of the Xmas shopping was knocked over, leaving me feeling a little calmer about the fortnight ahead. Yes, I do know how lucky I am.

For our date night dinner, I picked this chilli crab both because it looked good, and because I am still trying to cook as much as possible from this month's Gourmet Traveller. Melinda from Melbourne Larder and I have started a very low-key cooking challenge, trying to cook as much as possible from a different food magazine each month. This month's focus for the "We Made It" challenge is Australian Gourmet Traveller, December 2009. The chilli crab was the third thing I have made, and is my favourite so far. The sauce successfully achieved that fantastic Thai balance between hot, sweet, sour and salty - it was incredibly moreish. I did however simplify the recipe a little. I have no desire to bring home live crabs and then boil them just to set them aside and then reheat in the sauce. So I bought pre-cooked crab and got the fish shop to clean the crabs and chop them in four for me - skipping this ickiness made dinner taste even better. As long as you go to a good fish shop, I would recommend you do this. The crab tasted sensational. This recipe is a definite keeper for me - absolutely perfect summer fare. PS This is not a meal to be eaten in front of anyone you want to impress - licking your fingers is not for company.

Incidentally, if you are cooking from Gourmet Traveller this month and you would like to play along, drop a note to either Melinda or me.

Chilli Mud Crab

Australian Gourmet Traveller, December 09

2 live mud crabs (I used cooked)

6 kaffir lime leaves torn

2 red bird's eye chillis, thinly sliced

Juice of 2 limes

1 tbl fish sauce

1 egg. lightly beaten with a fork

Generous handful of coriander and Thai basil, torn

2 shallots, sliced (green onions)

Chilli Jam

60 ml vegetable oil

1 onion finely chopped

5 garlic cloves finely chopped

15g each (3 cm piece) of galangal and ginger, grated

3 long red chillis, thinly sliced

80g palm sugar grated, plus extra to taste

2 tbl fish sauce

1. Place crabs in the freezer to stun them for 30-40 mins. Bring a stockpot to the boil, add crab, cover and cook until cooked through (15-20 mins). Drain, remove top shell from crab, discard gills and coral, quarter crabs, crack claws, set aside. (Or just avoid this bit and get your crabs cooked).

To make chilli jam, heat oil in a wok. Add onion and cook over a medium flame, stirring occasionally, until the onion begins to caramelize (15-20 mins). Add galangal, ginger, garlic and chilli, and saute until chilli is tender (5-10 mins). Process this mixture in a food processor until it turns to paste, then return it to the wok with the fish sauce and the palm sugar. (I added the fish sauce to my food processor as it made it easier to chop the mixture.) Cook until caramelized (a further 5-10 mins).

Add crab, lime leaves, bird's eye chillis and 40 ml water to the chilli jam. Stir until the crab is heated through (5-10 mins). Add lime juice and fish sauce, and check seasoning, adding more juice, sauce or sugar to balance the flavours to your liking. Add egg and stir until egg is cooked and crab is well-coated (2-4 mins). Transfer to a bowl, scatter with herbs and shallots, and serve hot.

Mixed Tomato Salad: We Made It

December is upon us. I have neglected my blog even more than my garden for the last couple of weeks, so apologies to any regular readers who thought I had fallen down the proverbial plug hole. Some low level renovations made me briefly computer-less, followed by the usual ups and downs of a household at this time of year, but I am planning to more than make up for lost time this month, so brace yourselves.

A few months ago, I saw a post from Melinda at Melbourne Larder about making good use of food magazines. In one month, she had made more than 10 recipes from a recent Gourmet Traveller. I was impressed because - brace yourselves - my name is Suzie and I am a food porn addict. I don't just enjoy them; I mainline food magazines. As well as filed and orderly collections of magazines I am keeping, there are piles of unsorted magazines hidden in various corners around the house. I have an enormous box of unsorted clippings from magazines that have been sent off to recycling, plus three largish scrapbooks of sorted recipes. Whenever I find myself out and about with some time to kill before collecting the kids, going to an appointment, or meeting a friend, I tend to dive into a newsagency and collect another hit. Which all wouldn't be nearly as wicked if I actually used them a bit more instead of just conjuring up hypothetical meals in my head.

So I dropped a note to Melinda suggesting some sort of monthly challenge, and after an exchange of emails, we have decided to play. Our plan is to pick a different magazine each month, try and cook and review and post as much as possible from it in the month. If anyone else decides to join in, they are more than welcome, just drop a comment in to either Melinda or me. No more rules or pressure than that. This month's choice is Australian Gourmet Traveller, December 2009. And tentatively, this project of ours is called "We Made It". Which, incidentally, is how I feel by the time I get to December.

So first recipe off the rank was a mixed tomato salad with sumac, herbs and flatbread. At this time of year, the available varieties of tomatoes spin out from the usual choices of Italian, vine-ripened or bog standard to a gorgeous palette of shapes and sizes and colours. And the recipe is not prescriptive as to what varieties you pick - take a look at what is available and what will look pretty in a bowl and work from there. Tomato salads are a great addition to any buffet or plate because of the shot of colour they give. They also last longer than your standard leaf salad - I enjoyed the remainders yesterday of a salad prepared the night before - so make sure you don't bin the leftovers. The tomato holds its shape and texture well, and if anything the flavour is enhanced. Incidentally, I prefer to blacken the capsicum skins under the griller than mess around with open flames - no need for yet another cooking scar on my hands!

If you would like to join in the fun of cooking from Gourmet Traveller this month, leave me a comment, and make sure you go and visit Melinda at Melbourne Larder and see what amazing things she is whipping up too.

Mixed tomato salad with sumac and herbs

Australian Gourmet Traveller December 2009
Serves 6

3 red capsicum
1.2 kg assorted tomatoes, such as vine-ripened, green, ox heart, grape, cherry, kumato
80 ml (1/3 cup) extra-virgin olive oil
3 golden shallots, thinly sliced
1 lemon, juice only
2 tsp sumac
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 bunch each coriander, parsley and mint, leaves torn
To serve:
grilled flatbread and crumbled feta (optional)

Grill capsicum over a low open flame until blackened, turning occasionally (20-30 minutes). Transfer to a heatproof bowl, cover with plastic wrap and stand until cooled (1 hour), then peel, coarsely chop and set aside.

Cut large tomatoes into wedges, halve smaller ones and combine in a bowl. Add olive oil, shallot, lemon juice, sumac and garlic, season to taste and toss to combine. Stir through capsicum and herbs and serve with grilled flatbread to the side and crumbled feta, if desired.

Gazpacho - Yes I Know It's Winter

Life is sometimes funny in the Southern Hemisphere. Christmas day is hot. Easter doesn't give us the fresh start of Spring; instead it is rainy autumn weather. And June is not the summer holidays, but the start of winter and it is cold. However, when you belong to a cooking group like Barefoot Bloggers which is predominantly North American, you get to cook along with northern hemisphere seasons and pretend that it is warm when it is actually pretty miserable.

This week's height of summer Barefoot pick is gazpacho, a chilled soup I really love. I have already posted three different versions of Gazpacho on this blog (a Spanish version, a cucumber version and a fancy almond version). I love the balance of flavours between the vegetables, and I love that it feels like I am doing something really good for my health when I eat it. And when I ate it today, I could pretend that spring is nearly here, when actually it is 67 days away (OK I am counting).

Ina's Barefoot version of gazpacho is fairly simple and very tasty. Where other versions use bread to thicken the soup after pureeing vegetables as the base, this gazpacho was made thick by the large volume of chopped vegetables tossed through the tomato juice base. I left out the olive oil altogether, although if you had a really lovely oil, you could garnish the soup with a swirl of it. I also added my own avocado garnish as I love the contrast it brings to the texture of the soup, and the way it balances some of the more pungent flavours. Using the tomato juice makes this soup very quick and convenient. Just the thing for lunch while lolling about at a beach house contemplating an afternoon siesta. I wish.

If you are interested in joining the Barefoot Bloggers, click on the icon in the margin. Thanks to Meryl from My Bit of the Earth for her choice.

Gazpacho from "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook" by Ina Garten

1 hothouse cucumber, halved and seeded, but not peeled
2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded
4 plum tomatoes
1 red onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
23 ounces tomato juice (3 cups)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Do not overprocess!
After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop.

Savoury Avocado Jellies

Time for a guilty confession.... I love Masterchef. No surprises really - I got hooked on reality TV when the first Survivor hit our screens. And while my interest in the subsequent endless variations on the reality theme has been somewhat eroded, a good concept well executed can still hook me in. Which brings me back to the joy of Masterchef. The casting in this series is fantastic, with a wide range of ages and stages, and a mostly sympathetic group of people all cooking against each other to become Australia's first Masterchef. Some are looking for a career, some are looking for a new life, some are just looking for a bit of positive reinforcement, yet they all have enough talent to make them deserving of a spot on the box. The food is generally well cooked and well presented and interesting. The challenges and tasks are cleverly designed, and the celebrity chefs have all brought a bit of additional tension in. Tonight, Alex Herbert of Bird Cow Fish proved herself a very generous mentor and a complete delight when her recipe for Gnocchi with Prawns and Sage Butter was the episode's focus. The generous splash of verjuice in her sauce reminded me of this recipe that got put to one side during the renovation hiatus. And it definitely does not deserve to be ignored....

These verjuice jellies are a very elegant and easy starter for entertaining. The recipe comes from "Maggie's Kitchen" by Maggie Beer, and Maggie describes this as one of her core recipes because she varies it regularly to incorporate every imaginable seafood or vegetable ingredient. I was completely charmed by the jellies because they look so pretty, in a slightly old world way, and they get prepared well in advance. Next time, I will throw in some prawns as well - I think the pink and green would look even prettier.

Avocado Jellies

from "Maggie's Kitchen" by Maggie Beer

1 1/2 cups verjuice

1 tbl caster sugar

1/2 bunch chervil

2 1/2 x 2g gelatine leaves (NB because of the differing strengths of gelatine, make sure you refer to your gelatine's packaging to find out how much you will need to set 1 1/2 cups of liquid)

1 1/2 avocados chopped to a 2cm dice (about 300g avocado)

verjuice or lemon juice for drizzling

extra virgin olive oil to serve

mache or rocket

Bring verjuice and sugar to a boil then immediately remove from heat. Transfer to a bowl, add chervil and set aside to infuse. Soak gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 mins or until softened, then squeze out moisture. Strain the warm verjuice, then add gelatine leaves and stir until it melts. Allow verjuice gelatine mixture to cool completely.

Chop avocado and drizzle with verjuice to stop it browning. Place a few chervil leaves in the bottom of 6 100ml ramekins. Top with chopped avocado then pour the verjuice over each. Cover with cling wrap, pressing it down onto the surface of each jelly, then refrigerate at least 2 hours.

To serve, stand ramekins in a bowl of boiling water for 25 seconds to loosen, then invert onto serving plates. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve with mache or rocket.

Tuna Salad - Sashimi Style

I have spent the last few weeks away from my kitchen and my computer, so minor renovations at home could be completed, and my cooking has been limited. But I couldn't let May slip away without making and posting this fantastic tuna salad which was one of this month's picks for my Barefoot Blogger cooking group. Coincidentally, I recently had lunch at Sushi-E (try it if you are ever in Sydney and would like some fantastic sushi), and ate a salad with almost exactly the same components as Ina's one below, so I have tried here to reproduce the flavours that I loved so much. In particular, I hunted down some wasabi flavoured furikake to season the salad. Delicious!


I served the tuna raw, which is my personal preference, and halved the quantities as it was just for darling husband and myself. I still wound up with very generous serves and leftovers. If you haver never tried raw tuna, it tastes soft and silky and not at all fishy - just make sure you purchase sashimi grade tuna. I couldn't find wasabi powder here - it comes as a paste - so I used about 1 1/2 tsps of the paste in my half serve of dressing, instead. I also plated the salad as an appetizer rather than as a main meal, as I think delicate portions work better with this sort of food - it also makes the expense of the tuna go a lot further (and good tuna can be pricey). This is a salad that I will make again and again - it would be wonderful for entertaining, and is incredibly easy. It would lend itself to being chopped very small and served in tart shells as well. And if you can access sashimi quality fish - have it raw. Some things are just too lovely to cook!



Thanks to Kate from the elegantly named Warm Olives and Cool Cocktails for such a wonderful choice. I am thrilled to have been lured back into the kitchen for this one.



Tuna Salad
adapted from the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten

1kg very fresh tuna steak, cut 1-inch thick
4 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for brushing
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black, plus extra for sprinkling
2 limes, zest grated
1 teaspoon wasabi powder
6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (3 limes)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
10 dashes hot sauce (recommended: Tabasco)
1 to 2 ripe Hass avocados, medium diced
1/4 cup minced scallions, white and green parts (2 scallions)
1/4 cup red onion, small diced

Brush the tuna steaks with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the tuna steaks in a very hot saute pan and cook for only 1 minute on each side. Set aside on a platter.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the olive oil, salt, pepper, lime zest, wasabi, lime juice, soy sauce and hot sauce. Add the avocados to the vinaigrette.

Cut the tuna in chunks and place it in a large bowl. Add the scallions and red onion and mix well. Pour the vinaigrette mixture over the tuna and carefully mix.

Quick Chicken Salad for an Unexpected Lunch

If you walked into my house unannounced this morning, you would find two school hats sitting near the front door, in the same spot they landed before Easter. There is a very large pile of newspapers, magazines and mail on the dining table. You would also find the oven trays and pans from last night washed but still sitting in the drainer waiting to be put away. My daughter's Egypt project sits with some school notes that need to be dealt with. There are a couple of spare pairs of shoes tossed to one side. There are some coffee cups yet to be put in the dishwasher. Ironing is sitting out waiting to be put away. The house is clean but it is certainly not tidy. I'm embarrassed to say that my house looks like this most mornings.

You will not be surprised to know that when visitors are coming, my house does not look like this. I run around making sure that everything is returned to where it belongs, ensuring that the tables that usually accumulate daily clutter are clear, the draining rack in the kitchen is empty and ideally most of the kitchen prep has been done too so that (on a good day) there is not even a chopping board sitting around. This takes time and creativity (one of my proudest moments was when I figured out that my washing machine could be used as a hiding spot - just don't forget what is inside or you could be creating a disaster). So a surprise visitor for lunch means a recipe that is both quick and simple to allow for a mad dash around the house returning everything to the places they belong. Please tell me that other people do this too...



This salad is lovely and easy, and the flavour combination is great. It also keeps really well - it was a delicious lunch for me for a few days. The recipe is from "The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook" by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins which was published in 1984, and is still a great resource for me. Lots of really delicious ideas once you sift out the occasional 1980s horror - if you see this book in a secondhand bookshop, grab it. Just the thing for seeing an old friend, (and admiring how nice everything looks when all our clutter is put away). And it only takes about 15 minutes to make.



Chicken Salad With Red Grapes and Pecans
from "The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook" by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins

4 whole chicken breasts (8 halves) poached and skinned (I used a cooked rotisserie chicken, skinned)
1 cup diced celery
1 1/2 cups seedless red grapes
3/4 cup pecan halves, toasted
Salad leaves
Roquefort Mayonnaise

Cut the chicken into 3cm chunks, then combine with celery, grapes and pecans in a large bowl.
Make the mayonnaise. Toss the salad with the mayonnaise and refrigerate until cold. Seve on a bed of salad leaves.

Roquefort Mayonnaise
2 egg yolks
1 tbl dijon mustard
2 tbls sherry vinegar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup crumbled roquefort (I used a goats cheese instead)


Process egg yolks, mustard and vinegar in a blender for 30 seconds. With the machine running, slowly add the oil to make a thick mayonaise. Add cheese and pulse a couple of times (until just combined, not smooth). Season to taste.

Marinated BBQ Prawns

Australia seems to be doing its level best to live up to all the cliches about it at the moment. We have been through a summer of horrendous bushfires and destructive floods, that have mostly brought out the best in people. Generosity, bravery, mateship and an indomitable spirit are easily found every time I pick up a newspaper at the moment. But at the same time, some not so attractive traits are also on display: relentless undermining of our tall poppies, small mindedness and various governments that could not run a bath. And in case you missed the news, the sharks and crocodiles are also doing their bit to hold up our international reputation as a wild and dangerous place.

So just to make sure that all cliches were cemented into place, we threw some prawns (or as Paul Hogan would say, shrimp) on the barbie last weekend. Marinated for about 10 minutes before being served with thai chilli jam, they were really delicious. The marinade recipe comes from The Spirit House restaurant at Yandina in Queensland - if you are ever travelling in the Sunshine Coast, their cooking classes are wonderful. If you have never cooked with prawns here are some tips:
- green prawns should be kept in a box filled with ice and water in the fridge, to keep them as cold as possible.
- if you are not eating them the same day, make sure you ask your fish monger whether they will still be OK when you want to serve them (he will know how long since they came from the fish market)
- to peel, pull off the head, then pulling at the legs, remove the shell from the body of the prawn, leaving the tail in place. Devein by gently slicing about 1mm into the back of the prawn - you will see the vein and can pull it out.
- do not marinated for too long as the marinade will "cook" the prawns
- it is worth skewering prawns if you are barbecuing them - it helps them cook a bit more evenly, and makes them more manageable for whoever is holding the tongs. Push a skewer through the prawn starting in the middle of the tail.
- washing your hands with soda water helps remove the prawn smell
- if you get rubbish collections only once a week, double bag the prawn head and shells and keep in your freezer until it is collection day, or your bin will stink (trust me on this one)

Barbecued Garlic Prawns
adapted from "Hot Plate" from Spirit House Restaurant and Cooking School

1 kg green medium king prawns
2 cloves garlic, crushed
50ml olive oil
juice 1/2 lemon
2 tbls sea salt

Peel and devein the prawns leaving the tail. Skewer the prawns. Comine marinade ingredients and mix well. Drizzle over prawns making sure each one is coated. Allow prawns to sit for 5-10 mins. Grill on a barbecue until prawns are pink and cooked through (a couple of minutes).
Serve with chilli jam, aioli or any other sauce that appeals.

Curried Chicken Salad aka Coronation Chicken Salad

When I was studying at university, I had a job in a fairly rough pub, making counter lunches. We used one end of the Front Bar as a makeshift kitchen, with a pie warmer, fridges and a microwave, all jammed into a tiny corner. The clientele was largely railway workers and people who lived in the nearby Salvation Army men's hostel, and the food we served was substantial blokey food - pies, bakes, rolls and so on - always good food but definitely no frills. But once a year on Melbourne Cup Day the whole place went decidedly upmarket. The office workers from nearby would descend on the Ladies Lounge for a cup lunch, and we would serve a fixed price meal, to go with their cheap champagne and cask wine. The owner of the pub always insisted that we include Coronation Chicken in the menu. Having little experience of Cup lunches at the time, I just presumed that this meal must be "de rigeur" for a day of hats and horse racing. Needless to say, I have never since seen Coronation Chicken served on Cup Day.

Which is not to say that it shouldn't be. I had completely forgotten how charming this salad is, especially in the hot and sweaty months of the year, however a column from Jill Dupleix in last month's Delicious Magazine (Feb 09) reminded me. It really is a lovely cold salad. Even better, I put it together using up some leftover cooked chicken (part of my ongoing 09 crusade against leftovers). Served in a hollowed out papaya shell, it was easily winning enough for a day at the races.

(And why is it called Coronation Chicken? Apparently the recipe was conceived as a lunch for the Commonwealth Heads of State who gathered for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953. Cold salad was easy to serve to a multitude and the curry spices were a diplomatic nod at some of the far flung reaches of the empire).

Coronation Chicken adapted from Jill Dupleix in "Delicious"

1 poached, roasted or BBQed chicken (or leftovers - if less than one whole chicken, adapt amounts accordingly)

6 cooked potatoes chopped (I think I would leave this out next time and serve with a lovely bread on the side instead)

1 Lebanese cucumber chopped

1 tbs chopped chives, plus extra as garnish

1 butter lettuce (or 1 bag mixed summer lettuce leaves)

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 papaya, cut into chunks

Dressing

2 tbs mayonnaise (use the best you can)

1/3 cup yoghurt (low fat is fine)

2 tbs mango chutney

1 tbs mild curry powder

1 tsp tomato paste

Tabasco to taste

1 tbl of lemon juice

Whisk dressing ingredients together until smooth then season to taste. If it is too thick, water it down a little by whisking in 1 tbl of water. Cut chicken into bite size chunks. Toss the chicken, potato, papaya, and cucumber in the dressing. Put a bed of lettuce on each plate and top with the chicken salad. If you are serving in a papaya shell, slice a tiny bit off the bottom so it sits flat on a plate and serve the salad into it. Sprinkle with cumin seeds and chives.

Chantilly Meringues aka Individual Berry Pavlovas

Pavlova sits in the Australian culinary pantheon alongside vegemite and a barbecue, as a food that we really feel is our own (please ignore any Kiwis that try and argue the toss on this one). It seems as if everyone has a mother or a grandmother or an aunt who makes the best pavlova ever. There are dry pavlova shells for sale in the supermarket, alongside towering pre-made pavlovas (both horrible). There are battles within families between the purists who would never put anything other than either strawberries or passionfruit on top, and the radicals who would happily empty the fruit bowl and top the pavlova. Since I have been blogging, I have somehow overlooked posting my favourite pavlova recipe (in cae you were wondering, it is Stephanie Alexanders - completely failsafe as long as you follow it closely).

Imagine my surprise as I started to make the Meringues Chantilly for this month Barefoot Blogging challenge, when I realised that this is really a tricked up pavlova recipe. The meringue is a little less marshmallow-y than a normal pavlova and the cream is a little more exotic than usual and the fruit is slightly stewed, but basically, it is a pavlova. Maybe a pavlova wearing a cocktail dress, heels and perfume. It is very delicious, and the perfect dessert for a dinner party, as the meringues can be made a day ahead, and the cream and fruit also prepared and plonked in the fridge until serving time. I halved the recipe as there were only five of us for dinner and leftovers like this are way too dangerous. The problem with halving was that I wound up a little short on the meringue when it came time to pipe the sides of the nests; not a problem really because the cream was stiff enough not to require the support. The fruit was sensational - it would be just as good drizzled over ice cream. And a big thank you from me to the mysterious BMK of Reservations Not Required, for picking a recipe that used summer berries at the height of their season here.

Meringues Chantilly

from Barefoot in Paris by Ina Garten
6 extra - large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Kosher salt
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Whipped Cream with Orange Liqueur, recipe follows
Stewed berries, recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 100C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a small glass and a pencil, draw 6 x 10cm circles on each piece of paper. Turn the paper face-down on the baking sheets.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and a large pinch of salt on medium speed until frothy. Add 1 cup of the sugar and raise the speed to high until the egg whites form very stiff peaks. Whisk in the vanilla. Carefully fold the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar into the meringue. With a large star - shaped pastry tip, pipe a disc of meringue inside each circle. Pipe another layer around the edge to form the sides of the shells.

Bake for 2 hours, or until the meringues are dry and crisp but not browned. Turn off the heat and allow the meringues to sit in the oven for 4 hours or overnight. Spread some of the sauce from the stewed berries on each plate. Place a meringue on top and fill with whipped cream. Top with berries and serve.

Whipped Cream with Orange Liqueur:
2 cups pouring cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange liqueur (I used Grand Marnier)
Whip the cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. When it starts to thicken, add the sugar, vanilla and orange liqueur and continue to whip until the cream forms stiff peaks. Don't overbeat, or you'll end up with butter!

Stewed berries:
1 half-pint fresh blueberries
3 half-pints fresh raspberries, divided
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon orange zest
2 teaspoons framboise (raspberry brandy - I used normal brandy as I couldn't find Framboise)
Combine the blueberries, one-half pint of raspberries, 1/3 cup water, the sugar and zest in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook uncovered over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes. The juice will become a syrup and the berries will be slightly cooked. Off the heat, stir in the remaining raspberries and the framboise. Set aside.

Vichyssoise - A Cold Soup Classic

I once won a school spellathon because I knew how to spell vichyssoise, but that is not the only reason I like it. Cold and silky, it is completely perfect for the hot sticky days to which February has returned us. Even more blissful is the fact that it is very simple, can be made well in advance and most of the ingredients are probably already in your fridge. It is also wonderful for entertaining - a cold starter makes a dinner party much, much easier.

Looking at the net for the history of vichyssoise, I was expecting a French bloodline, but it was actually a New York hotel that spawned the soup. According to JJ Schnebel's Who Cooked That Up website, in 1917 the Ritz-Carlton Hotel at Madison Avenue and 46th Street was about to open a new roof garden restaurant. " The head chef was a Frenchman named Louis Diat (1885-1957). He often made a potato and leek soup from a recipe given him by his mother, and he was preparing to serve it at a party celebrating the opening of the roof garden. Whether, according to legend, the soup, prepared in advance, wasn't re-heated in time to be served as a first course, or whether the day was warm and Chef-de-Cuisine Diat felt culinarily creative, he added cream to his mother's soup recipe and served it cold, sprinkled with chopped chives. He called it Creme Vichyssoise Glacee, or Chilled Cream Vichyssoise, in honor of the town where he was born. The soup's popularity doubtless comes from the fact that even in the hottest weather one can enjoy a bowl of soup and find it refreshing. For many years Lord and Taylor's department store Soup Bar featured only a bowl of Vichyssoise and a piece of apple pie for lunch all summer long." My kind of place.

This recipe comes from the Tetsuya cookbook and is only the second recipe I have tried (the first being the sensational avocado soup), and so far this cookbook is batting two for two. Tetsuya serves his vichyssoise over jellied eggplant, and topped with a sprinkling of chives and caviar - a surprisingly elegant combination. And by the way, because there are so few ingredients, this is one recipe where homemade stock makes a big difference. Here is the basic soup recipe; let me know if you are interested in the jellied eggplant, and I will post that as well. And if you are interested in other soups, Deb at Kahakai Kitchen has her weekly selection posting on Sundays, Hawaii time.

Cold Soup of Potato and Leek

1 leek washed and white part chopped

1 onion chopped

1 - 2 tbls grapeseed oil (use light olive or vegetable if you don't have grapeseed - something with as little flavour as possible)

1 litre chicken stock

6 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

200 ml milk

100 ml pouring cream

Garnish: chopped chives

Sweat the leek and onion in oil until softened and translucent. Add the stock and then the potato. As soon as the potato is soft, remove from heat and cool down. Puree the mixture and add the milk and cream. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Serve garnished with chopped chives.

Waldorf Salad and A Remembrance of Things Past

Last week, pondering my fridge as part of the ongoing 09 crusade against food waste, I noticed some lingering apples and celery. Like some sort of trivia game quiz, I found myself pondering: "apple + celery = ?" when the blindingly obvious answer hit me. It was time for a Waldorf salad. Waldorf salad was very chichi when I was growing up, but along with deep fried camembert (not kidding) and apricot chicken, it has disappeared. Having it again reminded me why it was so popular in the first place: the crunchy texture is very satisfying, the apples bring sweetness to the celery and the walnuts seal the deal. Make sure you use a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice in the dressing to stop the apples browning, and to lighten up the mayo a little. Feel free to throw in any other add-ins (raisins, other fruit, change the nuts add some leaves etc). And by the way, the leftovers will be just as nice tomorrow.

And in case you were wondering, the name comes from the Waldorf Astoria where this salad was created in 1896 by the maitre d' (not the chef).

Waldorf Salad
3 Granny Smith apples cored and chopped
4 sticks celery chopped
3 tbls walnuts, chopped
2 tbls mayonnaise
2 tbls lemon juice

Combine mayonnaise and lemon juice in a small bowl. Chop celery and apple and toss immediately with the dressing. Refrigerate until serving. Sprinkle with the walnuts just before serving.

Oysters for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is around the corner, so it is time to pull out the heart shaped cookie cutters, and dust off the recipes for a great meal for two. For those of you who want something simple to start the night, my suggestion is oysters. Not only do they have famed aphrodisiac qualities, they are low in caklories and high in good things like zinc (click here for more nutrition info on the oyster). You can see I have served them here with a mignonette dressing I spotted on Steamy Kitchen (a great Asian cooking blog if you haven't discovered it yet), but if you have romance not cooking on your mind, good oysters really need nothing more than a squeeze of lemon.

And, in keeping with the Valentine's Day mood, I am giving you a poem from another fan of the oyster, Jonathon Swift of "Gulliver's Travels" fame.

(PS If you are looking for more Valentine's Day recipes, head over to Mele Cotte, who is doing a round up called Kitchen of Love 2009 . I'm sending this over to her as an appetizer)

"Oysters" by Jonathon Swift
Charming oysters I cry:
My masters, come buy,
So plump and so fresh,
So sweet is their flesh,
No Colchester oyster
Is sweeter and moister:
Your stomach they settle,
And rouse up your mettle:
They'll make you a dad
Of a lass or a lad;
And madam your wife
They'll please to the life;
Be she barren, be she old,
Be she slut, or be she scold,
Eat my oysters, and lie near her,
She'll be fruitful, never fear her.

Asian Mignonette Dressing from Steamy Kitchen
1 teaspoon water
2 tablespoons sweetened (seasoned) rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon red peppercorns
1 teaspoon finely minced ginger
1 teaspoon finely minced shallots
1/4 teaspoon whole coriander seeds (optional)

In a small bowl, whisk together the Asian Mignonette ingredients. Set aside while you carefully shuck the oysters (or buy them pre-shucked from a good fish-monger). Serve the Asian Mignonette sprinkled over the oysters.

Cold Pea, Mint and Prawn Soup for A Hot February Night

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month. February means back to school or back to work; time for new routines and new challenges. But the weather does not always co-operate with what should be an industrious time of year. Right now it is classic February weather in Sydney: very hot and sticky, the sort of weather that makes you breathless because the air is so heavy. I remember February days when I was in kindergarten being told to lie down on the cool tiled floor because that was the only bearable place to be on such hot days. Our teachers would read stories or play us records while we just lay flat on the cold tiles for what seemed like hours at a time. Heaven.



So, with weather like this, indulge me with another cold soup. This week it is chilled pea and mint, garnished with prawns to make it all a bit more interesting. I found it on the Gourmet Traveller website, having seen something similar in one of my food magazines (possibly Gourmet) and then losing it. This soup is filling enough to be a light supper on its own, and is dead easy to make: water, peas, a little garlic, shallots (or onion would be fine too) and some mint. Plonk a prawn on top, then enjoy before you go back and lie on the tiles some more.



The original recipe suggests straining the soup after blending but on a day like this, that was one step too far. I am sending this over to Deb at Kahakai Kitchen for her Souper Sunday. There is quite a collection of people starting to meet in her kitchen every Sunday (US time), so go take a look! And one final note, styling for this photo was by the elder darling daughter.

Chilled pea and mint soup with poached prawns

adapted from Gourmet Traveller website

1 tbsp olive oil
3 golden shallots, finely chopped (use 1/2 a brown onion if you don't have shallots)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
600 gm frozen peas, defrosted
1 cup (loosely packed) mint leaves
1/3 cup yoghurt (the original recipe calls for creme fraiche but I did not have any)
12 small green prawns, peeled, cleaned and halved lengthways

Heat oil in a saucepan, add shallot and garlic, cook over medium heat until soft (2-3 minutes). Add 500ml water, bring to boil, add peas and mint, remove from heat. Add yoghurt. Blend with a hand-held blender until smooth. Season to taste, refrigerate until chilled (1-1½ hours).

Meanwhile, bring a saucepan of salted water to boil, add prawns and cook until pink (2-3 minutes). Transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl of iced water, drain and set aside. Check soup seasoning. Pour soup into bowls, top with prawns and serve.

Sashimi Salad plus New Year's Resolutions - Yes They're Late

I like New Year's Resolutions, for the same reason I like new journals and new stationery. A sense of freedom and possibility wells up in me when I consider everything ahead - the literal as well as metaphorical turning over of new leaves. The year ahead always offers all the time in the world to read books, get fit(or just fitter), learn a new language, take up a new hobby, volunteer, figure out my next career, or even just ponder whether to plant an ornamental tree in the garden.

But I feel like I missed the boat in January. Freezing cold London on New Year's Eve felt like a time for bunkering down and retreating to a cave, not contemplating the abundant possibilities that midsummer in Sydney conjures up. No resolutions were made and now I feel a little adrift. So here is an abridged version of my 09 resolutions which are being made slightly late fr Feb 1 instead of Jan 1, at least as relevant to food and this blog.
1. My Green resolution: Throw out less food. Come up with wonderful recipes for leftovers. Treat my fridge like a giant Tetris game, where if I am left with two egg yolks from one recipe, I find another recipe to use it in. I am planning to track exactly how much food I throw out in Feb, to get a feel for the size of the issue.
2. My Clutter resolution: Get rid of the food magazine backlog by going through them, pulling out the recipes I want and throwing the rest into the recycling bin. I have piles of pre-incarceration Martha Stewarts, alongside pre-millenium Vogue Entertainings - this must change!
3. My Organisation resolution: Paste all my torn-out recipes into scrapbooks instead of leaving them to compost in a giant unmanageable box (this contains really ancient things like NY Times recipes from 1994; I promise to share any amazing discoveries).
4. My Waste Not Want Not resolution: Cook at least one thing from every recipe book I have never used. Enough said.
5. My Expand The Horizons resolution: Serve a vegetarian dinner once a week to my tribe of carnivores (hey, you've got to start somewhere)



But enough about me. Here is a wonderful salad I pulled together this week in the middle of the chicken pox nightmare. It took no time or effort (yay), but was enthusiastically enjoyed. And the colours are so pretty...



Sashimi Salad



Assorted sashimi (I used a large take-away box of salmon, tuna and kingfish), thinly sliced
1 cucumber, sliced with a peeler into ribbons
4 cups mixed leaves
1 bunch blanched asparagus tips
3 shallots (green onions, white part finely sliced)
Pickled Ginger to taste
1 tbl toasted sesame seeds

Dressing - Asian sesame dressing if available; otherwise juice one lime and sprinkle over salad then drizzle salad with extra virgin olive oil and toss.

Directions- Mix cucumber, asparagus, shallots and leaves together with dressing. Lay the sashimi on top just before serving, then sprinkle with ginger and sesame seeds.