the lobby series 5

lobster, apple & pomegranate salad. kewpie mayo.

the lobby series 4

lobster gnocchi with napoli sauce

the lobby series 3

stir fried satay lobster with glass noodles

the lobby series 2

lobster, creamy polenta, asparagus soup

the lobby series 1

lobster baked in chardonnay. recipe by tobie puttock.

"you can have this lobster i caught, princess. i'll be bringing some over every week!"
"whoa thanks dad!!"

gout here we come.
the lobby series. dedicated to my dad.

going on a mushroom hunt

wild mushroom pasta

in europe, there are mushroom police checking mushroom hunter's baskets and advising them on which mushrooms are and aren't safe to eat. now there's a cute job if I've ever heard of one.

who gives a stuff?

field mushrooms stuffed with avocado and goats cheese

in the mid 1970's, most of the mushrooms available in australia came in a can. today, we eat 95% of our mushrooms fresh. 88% of people love mushrooms in a stir-fry. 83% of people love mushrooms in a salad. mushrooms are the second most valuable fresh vegetable crop grown in australia after potatoes. the ancient egyptians believed mushrooms grew by magic, because of the way they could appear overnight.

p.s. i'm going mushroom hunting this weekend.

frapan

frapanese is what i'd be if i was french & japanese. i'd be a cosy singlet dreamt up by tsumori chisato & petit bateau; or one of tetsuya's mindblowing creations; or in leafy suburban willoughby, a la facon de shimizu. the duck left me speechless. i'm a chozzie anyway so what does that matter?

sweet opera

hot chips


poached egg, crispy pancetta and brussel sprouts.

on a recent visit to sydney, i decided to try my luck for a table at cafe sopra so i could dig into the best hot chips ever (if anyone knows of a place that can challenge this, please share)....and the other dish certainly got me back into brussel sprouts again.

chuck it in

i once went out with this guy who use to put all sorts of leftovers in a roll. i found it so disgusting and i'm pretty sure that's why we broke up. 2 years later i decided to try it. here we have a range of leftover items thrown into a roll including baked coral trout, chickpeas, gai lan, dried chilli and aioli. i know my his leftovers weren't as good as mine.

back to school

my friend has stopped taking me to cooking schools. i think it's because i embarrassed her when i told the head chef at the mangrove mountain ashram his curry needed more salt. it's probably the best cooking school i've been to but really, it did need more salt.


ratatouille lamb with roast capsicum at academy sofitel

high tea, sweeteeeeee....

you can't go to vietnam without a stopover in hong kong. and you can't go to hong kong without sampling the renowned high tea at the peninsula hotel.

vietnum-num

i think i could have went head to head with homer simpson in an eating competition in vietnam. as you can see, not many dishes made it on the camera. i was too quick to eat.

and yes, restaurant bobby chinn is good.


vietnamese spring rolls


cumquat tea with fresh fruit


salt, chilli & lime dipping sauce


steamed pipies with chilli


my friend sarita, and i have an addiction to rice paper rolls. we once spent a whole sunday stuffing them with crayfish, rice noodles, lettuce, shallots, & cucumber....and eating them. if only we could have had them straight off these mats.....


cumquat honey.
you could actually taste the cumquat in the honey!!

simple, quick, damn tasty

apples in fresh orange juice, vanilla yoghurt, cinnamon & almonds

sunday lunch

have you had one of those sunday lunches that suddenly blurs into dinner? no? well make sure you come over one (sun)day.


chickpeas & spinach

this has to be one of my favourite dishes to eat. dried chickpeas is the preferred choice because it tends to have better flavour and texture, however if the dried variety isn't available to you or you're feeling lazy, then the tin option is fine.

Chickpeas & Spinach

Adapted from the book, Movida.

Serves 6

800gms dried chickpeas

1 small piece of konbu (optional)

2 tblspn grapeseed oil

1 large bunch english spinach, leaves trimmed and stalks removed

1 clove garlic, finely sliced

2 tspns lemon juice

1/4 tspn smoked paprika

salt & pepper

2 tblspn olive oil (optional)

Soak chickpeas overnight. Drain the water and place the chickpeas in a large pot. Cover the chickpeas with water and add the konbu. The konbu has tenderising properties for pulses. Bring the water to a boil and then simmer until the chickpeas are tender. Reserve 1/4 cup of the chickpea water and drain the remaining.

In a heavy based saucepan over moderate heat, heat the grapeseed oil and add the chickpeas. Cook for 30 secs and then turn the heat up to high. Add the spinach and give it a quick stir, then almost immediately, add the reserved chickpea water. Let most of the water evaporate before adding the lemon juice and paprika.

Season to taste and drizzle with olive oil before serving.

oxtail braised in port, tomato and carrots



calamari, with broadbeans and tomatoes

beat the beet

our silverbeet plant just keeps on giving....to the point where i don't give a silverbeet, if i don't have silverbeet ever again.

ever.

so here's my last tribute to silverbeet.


ricotta, mushroom & silverbeet omlette

90th

it's not everyday you go to a 90th birthday. this one was special for me as it was my grandfather's. aunties, uncles and friends arrived bringing food that had been cooked with an abundance of love, thought and pride. as expected, the tables were spilling over with dishes that no restaurant could ever match. lucky it's not everyday you go to a 90th.


taro chips


salt & pepper prawns


pork dumplings