Simple Summer Seafood

In Summer, I really lean towards dishes that are light, healthy and full of the gorgeous Summer produce - but also ones that don't keep you trapped in a hot kitchen too long. If a dish can be cooked outside on the BBQ, then all the better! Today's dish ticks all those boxes. I put this together after seeing some beautiful Blue Eye Cod at the fishmonger, and wanting to do something lighter and healthier than fried fish and chips.

Blue Eye Cod (also called Blue Eye Trevally) is one of my favorite fish to eat. The firm white flesh has a lovely mild flavour and a beautiful meaty texture that means it won't be likely to fall apart when you are cooking it. Although it can handle marinades and more robust sauces, I like to cook it very simply, so that the fish is not overwhelmed and you don't miss out on that delicious taste.

In today's dish, I teamed some simply cooked Blue Eye Cod with a selection of seasonal grilled vegetables and a light and fresh lemon and caper dressing. The result is a delicious, healthy and good looking dish that you could happily serve at a dinner party or as a delicious mid week dinner. Because it requires very little preparation, it is a perfect choice if you are in a hurry or want something to serve that won't keep you from your guests too long.

You could easily adapt this dish for vegans or vegetarians - leave out the fish, do extra veges (maybe some grilled tofu?) and serve with the lovely lemon and caper dressing. For those who don't like seafood, some free range chicken thighs, seasoned and grilled would work well too.

Grilled Blue Eye Cod

with grilled vegetables and lemon caper dressing

You will need:
1 or 2 pieces fish per person, olive oil for grilling, 2 medium zucchini, 1 medium eggplant, 1 bunch asparagus, about 300g peeled pumpkin, salt.

For the sauce: 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, Juice of 1 lemon, tablespoon chopped continental parsley, 2 teaspoons very finely minced or chopped garlic, 1 tablespoon honey, 1/2 tablespoon baby capers, salt and pepper, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Method:
First, make the sauce by whisking together all of the sauce ingredients well, until they emulsify and thicken slightly.

Slice the zucchini, pumpkin and eggplant into thin 1cm slices. Cut the woody ends off the asparagus. Check the fish for bones - if there are any, pin bone the pieces by using tweezers to carefully remove each one.

Heat a grill pan or BBQ until very hot and cook the vegetables until tender, brushing with a small amount of olive oil and seasoning with a little salt. Once all the veges are cooked, put them aside.

Brush the fish with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook the fish for 2-4 minutes each side, or until cooked (timing on this will depend on the thickness of your fish fillets)

Assemble the vegetables on your serving plate/plates. Add the fish to the top of the vegetables and drizzle with the caper dressing. Serve right away.

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A Food Travel Flashback - Bali

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks up in the lush hills of Bali, learning about traditional Balinese cuisine. As well as discovering the indigenous plants and ingredients, I also got to spend time with some of the local women, cooking, exploring the market and marvelling at the beautiful flavours, colours and aromas that characterised the local food. I also built up my biceps from hand grinding all those gorgeous spice pastes!

Traditionally, cooking for an average day is done once in the morning - and that dish is eaten throughout the day, with rice. I remember waking up to the sound of roosters crowing, frogs in the rice paddies - and the beautiful smell of cooking early every morning, as the women in the various family compounds around where I was staying prepared food for the day. Early morning in the Balinese hills has a very distinct smell - like an exotic aromatic cloud made up of woodsmoke, incense, chillies, lemongrass, tumeric and flowers. Totally intoxicating.

Today I have a craving for some of that aromatic gorgeousness, so I thought I would share one of the dishes that I learned in my travels. I haven't made this for ages, but it is really beautiful and full of layers of flavour. Making your own spice paste may seem fiddly, but it is absolutely worth the effort - and you don't have to use a mortar and pestle if that doesn't appeal to you. A food processor is fine.

You will find all of the spice paste ingredients at any asian grocer or market. Be sure to use the fresh versions of the ginger, lime leaves, lemongrass, galangal and tumeric - dried won't cut it for this recipe. A note about the fresh tumeric - it stains like crazy, and if you get it on your clothing you will never get it off, so wear an apron and gloves when you are preparing it - unless you want ruined clothes and yellow Homer Simpson hands!

So here is today's recipe, courtesy of the gorgeous Indonesian island of Bali. This golden coloured aromatic curry is quite mild and "safe" to serve to those who might be a bit hesitant about spicy food. But of course if you are a chilli devotee, feel free to add more chillies - or leave the seeds in for extra punch.

Kare Ayam Tuwung

(Chicken & Eggplant Curry)

You will need: 6-8 skinless chicken peices (I use legs or thighs on the bone - much better flavour. I wouldn't use chicken breast for this as it will dry out too much),1 large eggplant,1 large sliced red onion, 1 tablespoon peanut oil, 1 cup coconut milk, 4 lime leaves, 1 stalk lemongrass about 10cm long,2 large tomatoes, 1 tablespoon palm sugar (you can substitute brown sugar if you don't have palm sugar),salt, pepper, 3 cups water.

For the spice paste: 6 shallots, 1 peice of ginger the size of your thumb,1 tablespoon fresh galangal, 6 cloves garlic,2 long red chillies with the seeds removed, 1 tablespoon fresh tumeric,1 tablespoon coriander seed,1/2 tablespoon cumin seed,2 teaspoons tamarind paste,1/2 teaspoon shrimp paste,3 grated candlenuts,1 teaspoon black peppercorns.

Method: Cut the eggplant into peices about half the size of a matchbox. Sprinkle with salt and place in a colander in the sink to drain. In the meantime, start preparing the spice paste.

Take the coriander seed, cumin seed and peppercorns and place them in a pan on a low heat. Gently toast them until you start to smell the aromas releasing. Be sure to move them constantly so they do not burn. If they do, start over, as burned spices will give an unpleasant bitter taste to your dish. Remove them from the pan and grind them to a powder (I use a mortar and pestle for this)

Chop the shallots, ginger, galangal, garlic, chilli and tumeric roughly. Place these in a food processor or large mortar and pestle. Add the cumin, coriander, peppercorns, candlenuts, shrimp paste and tamarind paste.Add about a third of a cup of warm water to the mixture and hand grind or process these until you have a fragrant paste. If the mixture is a little dry, add a few more teaspoons of warm water. Set the paste aside.

Cut a cross in the base of the tomatoes and place them in a bowl of boiling water for about 5 minutes. Remove the tomatoes from the water and peel off the skins - they should come off easily. Roughly chop the tomatoes and set aside.

Rinse the eggplant with cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Set aside.
Bruise the lemongrass stalk, still keeping it in one peice (a mortar and pestle is good for this!) Tie the stalk in a knot - this makes it easy to remove later and stops the fibres from breaking up through the dish.

In a wok or large saucepan, heat the peanut oil on a medium heat. Add the spice paste and allow it to cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constatntly. Add the sliced red onion and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the chicken, eggplant, lemongrass and lime leaves.

Cook the chicken, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes. Now add the tomatoes, water, palm sugar and a little salt. Simmer gently for 20- 25 minutes.

Now stir through the coconut milk. Turn up the heat so that the mixture is boiling a lot more rapidly and allow it to cook like this for 5-10 minutes remembering to stir it from time to time.

Taste the curry and adjust the seasonings to taste - add more salt and pepper as needed. Remove the lemongrass and lime leaves before serving.

Serve with rice and fresh chillies if you like it hot.

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Making the Connection

We have been enjoying the beautiful chemical free, sustainable produce from Food Connect over the last few weeks. These guys source produce direct from the farmers and it is picked only a day or so before it is delivered to you. The food is all local and seasonal, so you are not only getting the best quality, you are also getting the best nutrition and ensuring that the farmers are paid a fair price for their product. Everybody wins. We have been really impressed by the quality of the fruit and vegetables we have been receiving - and it has been so inspiring to plan menus around what we get in our box each week.

There is something very special about actually knowing the farmers who are growing our food via regular newsletters and updates on the Food Connect website. You know their stories, what they are up to that week, even what they look like! The farmers receive between 40 and 45 cents in the dollar for their produce - to give you an idea, the big supermarkets like Coles and Woolworths can pay their producers as little as 5 cents in the dollar, while they pocket the profits. I know where I would rather my money went....

One of the goals of Food Connect is also to minimise how far the food travels, both to ensure quality and to aim for a lower carbon footprint. On average, the furthest any of the food we have received so far has travelled is between 50 and 80 kilometers.

I wholeheartedly recommend that you check out their website and see if they operate where you live. As well as fruit and veges, they also do a range of dry goods, bakery items and fresh free range eggs that you can also order as part of your delivery. They operate in Queensland as well as New South Wales and you will find all the info about them here: http://sydney.foodconnect.com.au/

This week when our Food Connect box arrived I saw we had some lovely fresh eggplant, pumpkin and zucchini, so this became the basis for a yummy Summery BBQ meal with a bit of a mediterranean flavour. I added fresh herbs from our garden, a rack of lamb and a tangy Tzatziki sauce to create today's recipe. It is very easy to make, and the fresh flavours are wonderful - a great way to showcase those super fresh, chemical free vegetables.

Herbed BBQ Lamb

with char grilled vegetables and Tzatziki

You will need: 1 frenched rack of lamb (I used an 8 point/cutlet rack), 1 cup continental parsley, handful each of fresh oregano and basil, 2 large cloves garlic, salt & pepper, squeeze of lemon, 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil.

For the vegetables: 1 red capsicum seeded and sliced into thick strips, 1 eggplant cut into strips, 2 zucchini cut into strips, 6 slices pumpkin cut into strips. (the strips should be about 1cm thick) olive oil, salt.

For the Tzatziki:1 cup thick Greek style yoghurt, 1 large clove garlic, 1/2 cup finely diced continental cucumber, 1 teaspoon fresh chopped continental parsley, pinch cayenne pepper, squeeze of lemon, 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh mint, salt and pepper.

Method: Combine the parsley, basil, oregano, garlic, lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper and either blend in a good processor or pound in a mortar and pestle until it makes a paste/marinade. Brush all over the lamb rack and allow it to marinate for an hour or so (overnight would be fine too)

Brush all of the veges with a little olive oil and season well. Set Aside.

Combine the tzatziki ingredients, mix well and refrigerate until needed.

Before cooking the lamb, remove it from the fridge about 40mins before cooking it. For best results, meat should not be too cold when you place it on the heat. Taking it out a little before you are ready to cook it will result in a more succulent and tender result.

Heat a Weber or covered BBQ. Cook the lamb for about 30 minutes, basting with any extra marinade as you go. Remove the lamb and allow it to rest while you cook the vegetables.

Add the vegetables to the BBQ and cook until lightly charred and tender.

To serve, pile a serving plate with the veges and drizzle with tzatziki. Carve the lamb and arrange on top of the veges.

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Get me to the Greek!

Eggplant has been around for a long time - apparently it has been grown in various forms since pre-history and is a member of the nightshade family, closely related to the potato and the tomato. It is a technically a fruit and comes in a large variety of shapes, colours and sizes - black, purple, white and green or even lilac.They can be almost as big as your head, or as small as a baby pea. Eggplant will soak up any other flavours that you put with it, so it is great in curries, stews or coated in a marinade.

Eggplant is in season right now so they have the advantage of being inexpensive and also of a really great quality. Always buy eggplant that are firm and glossy - the skin should not be soft, dull or puckered. The green stem should be green and firm. The most common question about eggplant is - to salt? or not to salt? If I am using very young eggplant, or the long slender lebanese style eggplant, I don't bother. However larger eggplant (like the one I am using in today's recipe) benefit from being salted before cooking to remove any excess bitterness from the fruit. I have included instructions for this in my recipe.

Eggplant is very popular in Greek cuisine and this is where I got the inspiration for today's recipe - a hearty lamb and eggplant dish that is loaded with flavour - add olives and fetta and fresh herbs and you have something delicious that takes advantage of the wonderful eggplant that is in season right now. Serve it with crusty bread and a beautiful green salad and even those who aren't crazy about eggplantwill be coming back for seconds.

Lamb, Eggplant & Fetta Rolls

You will need: 2 large eggplant, salt, 500g minced lamb, 1 large chopped onion, 4 cloves garlic, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 2 tablespoons crumbled fetta cheese, 2 teaspoons paprika, 1 tablespoon fresh mint, 1 egg, a couple of pinches of cayenne pepper, 3 cups nepolitana sauce (or passata), 1 tablespoon parsley, 1 tablespoon chopped deseeded Kalamata olives, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Method: Slice the eggplant into pieces about 1cm thick, lengthways. Place in a large bowl and sprinkle with salt. Allow to rest for 30 minutes. Drain off all of the dark liquid and pat the eggplant slices dry with paper towels.

Heat a pan or grill and brush it with olive oil. Cook the eggplant slices in batches until slightly browned on each side. Set aside.

In a frypan, add a splash of oil and the chopped onion and garlic. Cook on a medium heat until the onion is soft.

In a large bowl, combine the minced lamb,oregano, paprika, mint, egg, cayenne pepper, parsley. Mix well with your hands. Now add the cooked onion and the crumbled fetta cheese. Season with a little pepper and mix well.

To make the rolls, lay a slice of eggplant flat and place about a tablespoon full of the mince mixture in a sausage shape across the middle of the slice, one third of the way down. Roll up the eggplant to encase the mixture and place in a shallow baking dish. Repeat until all of the rolls are completed.

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Pour the nepolitana sauce (or passata) over the rolls and top with the chopped olives. Bake for about 45 minutes. Serve with crusty bread and a salad, or rice.

Serves 4-6 People.

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Char! Char! Char!

I love the flavour of BBQ or char grilled food. Something about that smoky flavour and caramelised character really adds another dimension of flavour and texture to the food. Today's recipe uses this technique, along with delicious fresh herbs and the lovely rich citrus kick of preserved lemons to make a very special roasted chicken. I cooked the chicken on the Weber - over the coals with the lid on - and I flattened the chicken, Portugese style to speed up  the cooking time and maximise the exposure of the meat to all those lovely coals. You can of course cook the chicken in the oven or on a standard hooded BBQ if you aren't able to do the coals thing. I teamed the chicken with a very simple char grilled vegetable salad and ate it with some lovely rustic sourdough bread.

If you haven't used preserved lemon before, I have included instructions for how to prepare it for cooking in the recipe below. You use only the rind - the rest of the preserved lemon will be very salty and inedible. You will find preserved lemon at middle eastern grocery stores and gourmet food shops. It is very easy to make your own preserved lemons, but they take about a month to be ready for use. Make them when lemons are in season and at their best. I just wash the lemons well and slice a deep cross into the top of them (they should open up like a flower but still be in one piece) Then I pack them into sterilised jars to which I add a few peppercorns, a bay leaf, a few cloves and a stick of cinnamon. Then I pack them in salt and top them up with lemon juice. They then go into a dark place for about a month. I turn the jars every few days to keep everything well mixed. The lemons should be completely covered, so you may need to add more lemon juice and salt as you go. Choose jars with airtight lids - you don't want the air getting in to your lemons and spoiling them.

All of the herbs that I used in my recipe were picked fresh right from our garden. I am getting so much pleasure from having some outside space and growing herbs and veges. I currently have 13 different herbs, along with baby Cos lettuce, Roma tomatoes, chillies, beetroot, capsicums and french radishes. I will add to this as time progresses. I am really new to the whole garden thing and it is pretty much trial and error - with advice from friends and some online info. I am blessed with a sunny yard so things seem to be growing very fast. I am looking forward to when the vegetable crops mature and I can take them straight from the garden to the table. We recently aquired a compost bin so we will be recycling our scraps too, to add to the already rich soil that we have. There are lots of worms in the ground and the plants look happy - so far, so good!

Hope that you enjoy this different take on the basic roast chicken....

Lemony Herbed Chicken with Char Grilled Vegetable Salad

You will need: 1 whole chicken
(for the chicken marinade) 4 cloves minced garlic, 1 teaspoon thyme (I used lemon thyme for an extra lemony kick), 1 teaspoon finely chopped tarragon, 1 tablespoon chopped continental parsley, 1 teaspoon minced red chilli, 1/3 cup olive oil, 2 teaspoons pureed preserved lemon*see note, salt and pepper.

(for the char grilled vegetable salad) 1 medium eggplant, 2 medium zucchini, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon chopped continental parsley, 2 medium tomatoes - diced with seeds removed, salt and pepper, extra olive oil.

Method:
(for the chicken) Combine all of the chicken marinade ingredients and set aside.

Wash the chicken with cold water and dry inside and out with paper towels. Lay the chicken on a chopping board breast down. Now, with a sharp knife cut down either side of the backbone. This will remove the backbone/tail in one piece - disguard this backbone. If there is any offal attached to the remaining chicken, trim it off.
Next, turn the chicken over so that it is breast up. With the palm of your hand, push down firmly to flatten the chicken out. Now that the backbone is removed, this will be quite simple to do. You now have one flat chicken!
 
Rub about 2/3 of the marinade mixture over the chicken, including under the skin as much as you can. This should be easy now that the backbone has been removed. Allow the chicken to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
 
Cook the chicken on a BBQ with a hood, or a Weber (preferably over coals if you can, the flavour is even better this way) breast down to start with - for about 40 minutes. Turn frequently and baste with the remaining marinade. Allow the chicken to rest, covered in foil for 15 minutes before serving.
 
(for the salad) Slice the eggplant into pieces about 1cm thick. Cut the eggplant into long or diagonal slices (whatever is easy for you)
 
While the chicken is resting, splash some olive oil on the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Cook on the BBQ a few minutes each side, until they are tender and you have nice grill marks on the vegetables.
 
Remove from the heat and just before serving, toss through the tomato, parsley, balsamic, olive oil and season generously. Serve with the chicken.

*To prepare the preserved lemon: With a teaspoon, gently scrape the flesh and the soft pith away from the rind - it will come away very easily. Disgard this. Rinse the remaining lemon rind with water to remove the salt that it has been preserved in. Chop the rind very small and then using the flat side of your knife, squash the rind until it is a smooth puree.
 

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Comfort food - Italiano!

Is there a person alive who doesn't love a good schnitzel? I think it rates as one of the ultimate comfort foods and the other night I really felt like some comfort, so I decided to do a simple chicken schnitzel. As it turned out, I also had some eggplant in the fridge so what started as a basic schnitzel turned into something else entirely, with a distinctive Italian flavour. I simply prepared the chicken schnitzels as you normally would - well seasoned flour, then some beaten egg and breadcrumbs and in the fridge to firm up for 10 minutes or so before shallow frying the chicken.

While the chicken was chilling, I sliced the eggplant thinly and then cooked the slices in a very lightly oiled pan until it started to colour. I also made a simple tomato based sauce at the same time. Once I had cooked the chicken, I spread on a thin layer of the tomato sauce, topped the chicken with the eggplant, then some more sauce. I then added a mixture of mozzerella and parmesan cheese and baked the chicken in a moderate oven for about 10 minutes or so. Easy.

Chicken Melanzane

with asparagus, baby carrots and white anchovy and caper butter

I had been to the organic market the day before and had bought some lovely baby carrots and asparagus as well as some white anchovies and these formed the basis for a side dish to serve with the chicken. The butter that I used as a dressing for the vegetables would also work really well as a simple sauce for filled pasta, such as tortellini or ravioli. You can also make a batch of the butter and freeze it.

To make the butter, I just finely chopped a handful of capers and 5 or 6 white anchovies. Add this to a couple of tablespoons unsalted butter, along with a pinch of cayenne pepper and a generous amount of black pepper. Mix well and then just toss through the hot vegetables. Delicious.

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I feel like.... Italian tonight.

I felt like something Mediterranean tonight and but wasn't sure exactly what, so I went for a wander around my greengrocer on the way home from work for some inspiration. It wasn't long before I found it in the form of some beautiful, firm and glossy black eggplant. I couldn't resist it and so it is the centerpiece for tonight's dinner. Eggplant is an incredibly versatile vegetable and is used extensively in Mediterranean cooking - I used medium sized eggplant for this dish. Many recipes get you to salt and drain the eggplant first - I don't usually do this, unless the eggplant is very large or a bit old.

At the greengrocer, I also picked up some asparagus, prosciutto and mozzerella to add to the mix and did a little side dish of prosciutto wrapped asparagus - simply cooked quickly in a pan with a touch of olive oil and some freshly ground pepper. I drizzled some fruity olive on it to serve. Easy.

The eggplant dish I came up with is very simple to put together, but has a lot of flavour and looks quite pretty I think. You could serve this as a vegetarian main course or starter - I would use a smaller sized eggplant if I was doing it as a starter. You could also put prosciutto into the layers, or even crumble a little fetta into them for a richer taste.

So, here is tonight's offering - It serves two as a main course.

Parmagiania de Melanzane (Eggplant Parmigiana Stack)

You will need: 1 medium eggplant, 1 small Mozzerella cheese, 1 cup tomato based Nepolitana sauce (I used my own home made one, which has capers and anchovies, but use whatever you fancy. Even a good quality bought one would be fine if you are pressed for time) 1 tablespoon fresh continental parsley (you could use fresh basil if you prefer) Salt & Pepper, Olive oil.

Method: Cut the eggplant into slices around 1cm thick. You will need 3 slices for each person. Do the same with the Mozzerella. Heat a frypan with a little olive oil, season and cook the eggplant for about 1 minute each side, until slightly browned. It does not have to be cooked right through.

Place the eggplant in a single layer on a baking tray, top each piece with a spoonful of the Nepolitana sauce and then a slice of mozzerella. Bake for around 10 mins in a moderate oven.

To serve, stack three slices on top of each other and finish with some chopped parsley.

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