Sashimi & Potato Salad

You will need

• Baby potatoes, halved or in thumb sized chunks x 150g per serve
• Raw salmon, cubed x 70g p/s
• Egg mayonnaise x 35g p/s
• Wasabi powder x 1/4 tsp p/s
• Spring onions finely chopped x 1 sprig
• Rock salt x a pinch
• Nori finely chopped (garnish)
• Coriander finely chopped (garnish)
• 1 - 2 wonton skins
  
• cooking oil
  

Method

1. Boil the potatoes till tender, run through some cold water & let cool aside.
   
2. Thoroughly mix wasabi powder into mayonnaise, making sure any lumps are broken in (or someone could be in for a nasty surprise)
   
3. Brush wonton skins with cooking oil on both sides. Grill for 6-8 minutes or until the skin begins to form bubbles and turn golden brown. Remove from oven & cool. Crush gently & set aside. These are now affectionately known as wontoncroutons.
   
4. Toss potatoes and half the spring onions into wasabi-mayo til all coated
5. Top with salmon, sprinkle rock salt & wontoncroutons evenly, garnish & serve.

Home Grown Potatoes

Many people don't chose to grow potatoes even though its really easy to, simply because its so cheap to buy them these days and it takes up a lot of space. But given the amount of artificial fertilisers large commercial growers use these days, knowing that your own stuff is organic and safe is still a peace of mind. They all come in different shapes and sizes in your own garden, which is what food is really meant to be like, and it tastes bloody delicious.

I found these growing at the edge of mum's compost heap, hidden in the corner in the goat's pen and looked like the rabbits took a bite of one but decided it wasn't good enough... Being on a farm you can afford to have basically as many compost heaps as you'd like and as big as you'd like 'em.

I love finding this sort of stuff when just digging around the garden, it works with stuff like kumaras and jerusalem artichotes (as we had in Canberra last year). Its kinda like a growing time capsule - remembering the time when you last saw it many moons ago, it was a mulchy looking spawning rotting old spud and now its turned into a field of gentle white flowers, with little ruby gems hidden beneath, waiting to be devoured...

Duck salad in Dark Cherry Sauce

Ingredience
Poached duck, skin on - 120g per serve
Mescillin salad - 150g per serve
Cucumbers - 20g p/s sliced or shredded
Avocados - 1/4 per serve, sliced
Spring onions - 1 sprig, finely sliced
Lemon juice - a dash
Pepper & Rock or sea salt - a dash
Soy sace - 20mL
Honey - 1 Tbsp
Cherries - 6 per serve. Pitted and halved
Greek style full cream yoghurt
Coriander to garnish

Method
1) Make sauce - combine soy sauce, honey & add cherry. Simmer & stirr in gentle heat till all is cooked and infused. Cool aside.
2) Toss all other salad ingredience & drizzle lemon juice, cherry sauce & greek yoghurt & garnish.

Meet my Brad Pitter. Usually you can find it under the name of olive and/or cherry pitter at the homewear goods shop - they don't all look like this one, some have a domed holder end, for example and a grippable handle. This one was a present from Emma and Wendy one Christmas or a birthday many years ago, and it is a well loved and respected member of my kitchen. Some people categorise the pitter as one of those extravagent utensils that takes up space cos its hardly ever used - they can never be more wrong. It simply is fun to use, clean, pretty, and as a big fan of pitted things and not half crushed things - i highly recommend any serious entertainer a set of these efficient sidekicks.

GG Martini

Shake and serve:
Juice of 2 grapefruits (just under 1 cup)
2 shots of gin
1 shot of vodka
Ice
Serves 2

Tis the sunny season and mum and dad's tree is o'fruit'n. Feel the enamel of your teeth melt as you squeeze the brain out of these puppies.

Camel Burger

Hungry and lost in a market in Meknes, Morocco. I am sure this is of much disgust to Tinkerbell, but hey, this may be the one and only time I get to eat this thing.

You will need:

For Patties
Camel meat, minced (don't ask what part, just take it) x 70g per serve
Flour - to roll

For Compliments:
Round baguette x 1 per serve - cut in half and then again sideways to resemble a pocket
Grilled sliced onions
Grilled egg plants and zuccinis
Salat de Maroc - diced tomatoes, onions, cucumber, morrocan feta in olive oil
Harissa (hot chilli sauce)

Method
1) Roll camel meat into small balls. Roll lightly in some flour, fry on hot plate till cooked. This is important as it may have sat in heat and fly-lavae for a while.
2) Place in baguette, add compliments and sauce. Eat fresh.

Camel meat has a smooth supple texture. It is actually quite fatty but unlike beef or lamb, the fat does not get clumpy or coat your mouth or make you feel bloated. It is simply a delicate light meat without any pungent odure. It is definitely the texture rather than flavour that is the highlight.

Eye Ball Popping Piri Piri Sauce

HOT HOT HOT!

Steam is coming out of my ears - this is honestly the most satisfying brain hemorrhage inducing stuff I've tasted since Rama's extra hot tikka masala. Phhoooooooooooooooffff!!

You will need:
3 large red chilis n- roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic - peeled
Juice of 1 lemon
half hand full italian parsley
1 Tsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1 packet (150g) tomato paste

Pulse all together in the blender. Preserve in jar in fridge for up to 2 weeks.

I had these with chicken breasts - marinate for 1/2 hours before grilling in medium-high heat. Serve with a cucumber type salad to edge off the heat.

Noodle Art

This is a fun little project for when you've got some left over noodles and plenty of time.

Ingredience:
1 fairly long unbroken cooked noodle, cold if possible or you may burn youself.
Method:
Flop and curve noodle over non-stick or pre-greased objects such as spoons, chopsticks, plastic bottle tops or the kitchen wall. It needs to be stable and unable to move. Leave to dry over night and remove. Display however and where ever you like. In this case I have made a Loch Ness Monster and placed it next to a plastic crab for effect.

NB1: For advanced players, experiment with different types of noodles and combinations thereof (eg. pasta, egg noodles, rice noodles, soba noodle... possibilities are boundless really.)
NB2: This may still be edible if you consume this within 3 days in coldish climate.

Grilled Tiger Campsicums & Endives salad

(these things are quite tiny, no more than about 10cms long each, and the flesh is thin but substantial & flavoursome)

The Japanese organic farmers that are always on time at the Northside farmers markets here in Canberra are possibly my most trusted food source when it comes to salad suppliers. Their varieties are mostly newly developed japanese ones, so I could hardly find anything on the internet on how to prepare them. The organic nature of the veges really make me feel assured tucking into these things.

Salad leaves are usually over prayed by chemicals particularly if they have to travel and store for days before getting onto the table. A friend of mine that slogged her days as a supermarket assistant in the vege section said her hands used to sting after packing lettuces because of the harsh pesticides. Imagine that in your stomach, particularly if they are to be eaten raw etc.

Ingredience
Tiger Capsicums x 6 per serve
3 - 4 cloves garlic, dash of olive oil, sprinkle of rock/sea salt for roasting dish
Endive leaves x 250g per serve
Shredded nori

Method
1)Place tiger capscicums evenly on thinly olive oiled roasting dish, lightly crush garlic without removing skin, sprinkle with salt
2) Grill in medium heat till skin of caps are lightly brown
3) Serve chilled or warm on bed of fresh endives garnished with light shreds of nori drizzled with olive oil from tray, dash of pepper.

..................

The earthy smokey flavour of the tiger capsicums and its intense flesh made this dish taste extremely sexual. It made me fantacise about being in an alley way in New York with a Jamaican who has just smoked a dozen cuban cigars & doused in rum. (???).

Kimchi Tapanade

Ingredience
150g cabbage kimchi, roughly chopped
120g firm tofu, roughly chopped
10 stuffed green olives, roughly chopped
1 tsp black sesames, toasted
1 clove garlic
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp Lee Kum Kee garlic chilli sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 sprig spring onions - shredded for garnish

Method
Blend all coarsely, garnish, and serve with rice crackers

I remember the year when I was 11, and Mum went overseas for a month and Dad had to cook for us. On the first night he made this big pot of soup where he chucked in everything he could find in the fridge & boiled it up. It was so huge that we couldn't finish it. The next night he found more stuff to chuck into the left over soup and added more water. And so on and so on. It was still the same pot of soup when mum got back. This is like that, except much better.