FoodieChat

Watching Gordon Ramsay shows has inspired me to make simple meals with special ingredients, and present them in a clean way.  This dish took only 5 ingredients (6 if you count the beans!). And so easy to make. Who said cooking for one is fussy?

(more…)

One pot cooking for 15 friends? Go for a paella. I must admit I’ve always been scared off because a) it uses saffron - so expensive and how do you use it b) seafood - and lots of it - how do you time it correctly and c) well it’s kinda exotic.  Well thanks to a SunRice recipe and also Donna Hay, I’ve come up with a hybrid of the two recipes that seemed to please the crowd I had over.  I served it with sangria too - as long as there’s red wine, vodka, chopped fruit - the variations are up to you!

Ingredients (for 15)

• 2 cups arborio rice
• a pinch of saffron, soaked in 2 tblspoons hot water
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 chorizo sausages
• 1 squid tube
• 1 sliced red capsicum
• half kg of uncooked prawns
• 500g chicken meat
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 300g piece of fish fillet (I used barramundi)
• 1 tablespoon smokey paprika
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

(more…)

Undoubtedly the most impressive seafood platter in Sydney, with great views to go with it.  For $132, you can feast on seafood whilst watching the sunset over the city skyline and over Cockle Bay.  And I’m not the only person snapping away on my camera, as the seafood platter makes its way to every table - often more than one of them!  Easily feeding two with no room for dessert, every oceanic creature man has a taste for is in front of you on two levels, leaving you wondering how you will attack it and whether your stomach can indeed fit so much in.  Well my strategy was firstly to eat some of the ten oysters (which for an extra $8 were prepared kilpatrick - sorry can’t eat raw guts ) before they got cold, then some of the whole lobster tail - so that I can still enjoy the tender meat before I’m too full to appreciate it.  Next, one of the two tandoori prawns while it was still hot. Same for the bbq octopus.

The two beer battered fish fillets were crispy on the outside, with fresh silky flesh inside, only needed a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of salt.  Well the half dozen prawns on skewers didn’t tempt me much, so left it to dad… same with the bowl of cooked mussels.  Loosening my belt, I attacked one of the two blue swimmer crabs - the flesh easily coming out of the shell without needing a pick, tasting of the sea as it should.  And finishing it off with one or two thick cut chips.  *Groan*. (more…)