Oysters Toofey
Oyster lovers are allowed to take their oysters cooked, despite what the toffs might think. This recipe came from Toofey’s, one of my favourite seafood joints.
Toofey’s chef, Michael Bacash, is one of the true fanatics of the business. Aiming for one thing: perfection. Perfection in his produce, perfection in his cooking, perfection in his service. [...]
A Simple Butter Cake: One For The Fridge Door
This heralds a change of life or, at least, a grasp of commonsense while baking. The rules you learn baking can apply to the rest of your life. The beauty of this recipe is that once you make the measures, the whizzer performs all the hard work.
I hate making cakes. This is cooking by routine, [...]
Mango Lassi
This is something of an Indian milkshake. It comes from Gopal Kulkarni, of Melbourne’s Bombay Brasserie restaurant. It’s a terrific hot day drink, and great for breakfast any day.
500 g fresh yoghurt
300 g mango pulp, sliced from the seed, or 1 x 425 g can mango, including juice
100 g caster sugar (less if using canned)
1 [...]
Mum’s Lamingtons
You might need to double the mix if you have a large tin. The recipe calls for a lamington tin, which is a rectangle with reasonably high sides. Remember, the mix will rise somewhat. The cake base is the same as A Simple Butter Cake: One For The Fridge Door.
½ cup good quality cocoa, sifted
½ [...]
Chicken In An Eastern Sauce
My best way to enjoy chicken is roasted whole, left at the side of the stove for a while, and taken just warm, all parts ripped away, and slammed between a couple of slices of bread, crispy, crispy skin included. The next best is to take hold of all those terrific new boned and skinned [...]
A Creamy Cheese, A Creamy Sauce
Gorgonzola is a richly flavoured, creamy blue cheese. Just melted, it makes a creamy sauce of its own, especially with such chunky dishes as gnocchi. With pasta, I reckon it needs a few props, to cut down the fattiness of the dish.
The best pasta for the creaminess of this sauce is either a flat spaghetti [...]
Mushrooms Smothered With Spinach
Mushrooms vary from the rich black field variety and those grown in hay and compost and available year round, to all sorts with strange names. The treatment is pretty much the same, no matter what they’re called.
Mushrooms are very happy with spinach. Spinach is very comfortable with mushrooms. And I’m not talking truffles here, just [...]
A Soup Without Stock
Cauliflower soup is a classic winter soother. The caulis are plentiful and cheap and the soup is a cinch to get together quickly, with or without stock. The intensity of the cauli makes this a rarity. It is just as good without the middle flavours provided by a well-made stock.
The cauliflower is a beautiful thing [...]
Scampi With Herb Butter
2 scampi per person
handful of chopped herbs – Definitely chives, basil if it’s around, yes please to tarragon.
100 g unsalted butter
black pepper
1
Remove the heads of the scampi and slice them in half along their length. Remove the waste tract.
2
Soften the butter in your hands and mix through the chopped herbs until you have a ball [...]
Getting Fresh, With Prawns
Pasta with seafood is a universal favourite, and so it should be. The trick is to keep it simple. No need for splashes of all different types of shellfish and/or fish. Go with something strong. And stick to it.
There’s an argument to suggest that fresh prawns need no more than a barbecue to turn them [...]