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.