Category Archive

While I was in France, I had the pleasure of eating this particular entree which was spectacular. It consists of a nice chevre (goat’s cheese), cut like a sandwich with olive jam smeared through the middle. Then a green salad with sticky basalmic vinegar (i use Chris Jarman’s) topped it off. Simple delicious.

A shop called Olivier’s & Co on Rue Mouffetard, 5 eme Paris, stocked a version of this olive jam which also has lemony goodness in it - its salty and sweet and has this incredible complex yumminess to it.
Unfortunately everyone in Australia looks at you strangely if you ask for an olive jam.
BUT I found an online recipe at The traveler’s Lunchbox. Check it out!

If however you are teh LAZY like me I made up a simpler version

• Buy a nice kalamata olive tapenade - mine was a wonderful mix of kalamata olives, olive oil, garlic, pepper, dijon mustard and anchovy.

• Boil some water with lemon zest, some slices of lemon, honey, green apple and sugar. Fiddle with proportions as you see fit.

(For the record I made a small container - approx 150gm of olive tapenade, 300ml water, 1/3 lemon + zest, 1 green apple, 5 teaspoons honey, 4 teaspoons sugar.)

• Boil your mixture down a bit until the apple goes somewhat mushy.
• Strain and squash out as much juice as you can. I keep the smooshy apple bits to put in the jam.
• Pop the olive tapenade into a small pot, whack in the liquid and smooshy apple bits, and reduce on low heat to desired thickness. Keep tasting and fiddle - depending on how salty your tapenade is, you may want to add in a bit more sugar/honey, or a bit more citrusy lemon.

Stick in the fridge. and tomorrow you will have a fantastically tasty olive jam. Spread it on nice crusty bread or do the above recipe. I did this for PBL minus the green salad - just smear a bit of chevre onto a wafer cracker, bit o’ jam and a tiny drizzle of sticky basalmic.

Being holidays, I thought I’d try and eat proper real food before launching back into the student staple of insta noodles

So

1.

Lamb Ragout with Pasta

diced lamb
dill, parsely
garlic
tomato paste
red wine
broccoli
carrot
zucchini
mushrooms
beef stock
pasta

Coat the lamb with cornflower and quickly seal in a pan. (do some garlic while you’re at it) and then whack into a big pot of tomato paste and carrots and red wine and beef stock. Let it go simmer for 1.5hrs or so, add in brocolli, zucchini, mushrooms and simmer for another 10 minutes

meanwhile, cook up your pasta - I used some lovely hand rolled thingys.

Chuck it all together and enjoy with some red wine.

Christmas and New Years Yummies

Pan Fried Ocean Trout with Noodle Salad

Ocean Trout fillets, skin on
Masterfoods tuscan herb mixChilli Flakes/Piri Piri seasoning
Vermicelli
Mango
Cucumber
Mirin
Fish Sauce
Olive Oil

Lightly coat the fish with olive oil and generously cover with both seasonings, adjust chilliness to taste.
cook the vermicelli and dunk in cold water to chill
Cut up mango and cucumber into little cubes
Toss the mango and cucumber through the vermicelli and add in some sea salt, some mirin and fish sauce
On high heat or bbq, cook the fish - mostly on the skin side, and finish on a lower heat on the flesh side. You want to make nice charcoaly crust on the skin.

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Puddles’ Blue Cheese Mussels

Nice idiot proof recipe - serves 6

2kg mussels
2 small onion or 1 big un
2 stick celery
1 leek
375ml fish stock
butter
sea salt
pepper
sugar
1 lemon
120gms crumbly blue cheese (not blue brie. I  used Bleu d’Auvergne)
baby spinach
2 cups white wine
200ml thickened cream

so cut  the onion, leek and celery, and saute with butter until tender
add in fish stock, juice of lemon, wine, crumbled cheese, cream and baby spinach.
Bring to light boil - taste the soup and salt/pepper/sugar to taste
whack in the mussels
and watch closely as its easy to overcook.
once they open you’re done!

Serve with nice baguette to dip in the chowder

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porcini risotto  for 4

Aborio rice 300-400gm depending on hungriness
half a bottle of white wine
2lt of chicken or vegetable stock
45gm dried porcini mushrooms
Salt, pepper
Butter
2 cloves garlic
1 small onion

put the porcini mushrooms in a small bowl in hot water for 20min prior to cookin

in a pan, chop up onion and garlic and saute in butter
simultaneously have the stock simmering
once the mushies are done soaking, filter the mushroom juice (it may have dirt in it) and add to stock for extra mushroomy goodness
so once the onions are soft add in the aborio rice and toss around so the grains take on some colour and get nice and toasty.
add in a ladle of stock and stir
and continue doing this for ages until the rice is to your desired texture (i like it firmish)
I alternate the stock with the wine.
About 10-15 min from the end (ie a couple of ladles of stock left) add the mushrooms in.