olive oil poached swordfish with smoky paprika & onion sauce

Just a quick one this week gentle readers to introduce you to my new favourite sauce: smoky paprika and onion. We’re talking tomato sauce (Australian for ketchup) for grown-ups here: spicy, complexly smoky, slightly sweet with a touch of chilli heat and a gorgeously tablecloth-staining rich red colour. Trust me, you just have to try it….. all good things. Read the rest of this entry »

mojo picon with shaved zucchini & mint salad

When talking to people about hobbies and I mention that I’m into cooking, I often get asked what type of things I like to cook. And my response is always, well everything. It all depends on so many things. My mood, the weather, my level of hunger, whether I’m heading out hunting and gathering first or just knocking something up from the fridge. The seasons of course play a big part in it but often I’m inspired by whatever cookbook I happen to be reading at the time. Read the rest of this entry »

ready for a sunday lunch
table setting & ambiance by missy helgs

I’ve never really been into the concept of having a best friend, or ‘bestie’ as my mad no-so-little brother likes to call them (he also calls his mates who live on the farm next to his ‘nexties’… but that’s a whole other story).  It’s not like I believe in quantity over quality when it comes to friendships more that I’d rather just enjoy them instead of wasting time comparing my nearest and dearest. But if you were to force me to name my best mate, then it would probably have to be my favourite Melbourne resident, the lovely Missy Helgs. Read the rest of this entry »

Ok so it’s not secret that I’m a big spice fan and love dabbling with them, but my friends, I do have a confession to make. Until a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t grind my own spices. Shocking that someone like me who has read countless times just how flavourful and amazing freshly ground spices can be has never bothered to actually try it out for herself…. I know…I know…Herbie would not be proud. Read the rest of this entry »

harissa - hotness in a jar

Last year I was lucky enough to take a trip to the Top End of Oz with my good makes the lovely Missy Helgs and Missy Margot. A few days before we flew into Darwin my travelling companions attended a Sunday night Russian wedding in Melbourne. After the requisite toasting and vodka shots the girls hit the dance floor and were having a fine old time. Read the rest of this entry »

char grilled veg with walnut & white bean puree

It’s that time of year. Grey skies, impossibly endless showers, short short days, in a word……miserable. And while it does seem like every second person has the flu and that the sun is never going to shine again, hope is in sight. With the shortest day of the southern hemisphere year just around the corner, it’s time for rugging up. It’s time for tissues with eucalyptus. It’s time for vitamin packed veggies to help ward off the threat of the dreaded flu. Read the rest of this entry »

poached eggs with za’atar, baby spinach & bacon

There’s nothing quite like a lazy Sunday morning. Whether you’re nursing the effects of a big Saturday night or not, there’s something about Sunday that just begs for a restorative drink and some serious eggs and bacon followed by a good coffee and a leisurely browse through the Sunday paper. And if you can share it with someone you like, then so much the better. Read the rest of this entry »

supermmoist banana & almond cake 

The whole world of food likes and dislikes is something that I find endlessly fascinating. I love how complex it all is. I mean there’s a whole lot more at play than just the food itself. It goes way beyond appearance, texture and flavour. There’s history, cultural influences, education a whole melting pot of thing really that makes us choose what we like to put in our mouths and what we don’t. Read the rest of this entry »

cauliflower panna cotta with smoked trout

My family is pretty diverse when it comes to our climatic preferences. While I am a big fan of dry heat and really struggle with Sydney’s humidity, my Dad longs for the air to be warm and soupy. My little brother, Dom, just likes it hot. So much so that he has driven across the Nullarbor a couple of times without even thinking about turning the air conditioning on. And then there’s my snow bunny sister, batgirl, who loves the cold and practically breaks out in a heat rash if the temperature creeps higher than 20degC. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s funny the things you latch on to as a child, particularly in a family as large as mine. The little sayings and jokes that become part of the fabric of family life, your family culture as it were. Years ago there was an epidode of the US sitcom Alf, where one of the children dressed up as an asparagus for the school play. Now this was no ordinary asparagus; it was a singing and dancing one that even had it’s own jingle: ‘a-spar-a-gus, a-spar-a-gus, it makes you feel more a-ble’… Read the rest of this entry »