Kale Salad

I've been a bit slow to get on the kale bandwagon, but now that I've started cooking with it, I love it! We first started with kale chips and have moved on to using it in place of spinach or other greens. This is my first attempt of using it in a salad.

After having carrots left over from making the soup earlier in the week, I decided that roasting the carrot to bring out that beautiful caramel flavour would complement the green kale perfectly. Adding some orange for sweetness and pine nuts for crunch, it was delicious.

The dressing used the juice from the orange, mixed with some oil, salt and pepper. It was mild and sweet. If you prefer a bit more zing, add some lemon juice or white wine vinegar, or use it instead of the orange.

To sate my salmon obsession, I served the salad with pan fried salmon fillets which had been sprinkled with sumac. A very simple way to serve such a beautiful fish.

Now that I've made my first kale salad, I think I'm going to have to get experimenting a little bit more. The sweet tartness of dried cranberries would also be great, as would fresh or dried apricots. Can't wait to have a bit more fun in the kitchen!

Kale Salad

1 carrot, peeled and cut into large chunks

A drizzle of olive oil

2 sticks of kale

1 orange

1 Tbs toasted pinenuts

1 spring onion, thinly sliced

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Place carrot in a small roasting pan, drizzle with oil and toss to combine.

Roast for about 30 mins or until tender and starting to caramelise. Set aside to cool.

Cut the kale leaves away from the stalks and then tear into bite size pieces. Place in a bowl.

Boil a kettle full of water and pour over the kale leaves. Allow to sit for 1 minute, then drain and refresh under cold water. Set aside to cool and dry.

Cut the ends off the orange and then peel with a sharp knife to remove all the pith.

Segment the orange in to a bowl, taking care to reserve all the juices. Squeeze any remaining juice from the core and set aside.

In a serving bowl, combine the roasted carrot, kale, orange segments, toasted pine nuts and spring onion.

Measure the reserve orange juice and add an equal amount of extra virgin olive oil. Season to taste and whisk to combine.

Dress the salad with as much of the dressing as you feel it needs and toss to combine.

Enjoy.

Carrot Soup With Roasted Hazelnuts

As the days get shorter and the feel of autumn fills the air, it's nice to start thinking about eating soup again. Over the long, hot days of summer, soup is the last thing you want to eat. You need something light and fresh with plenty of flavour.

Yes, you can have chilled soups when it's hot, but they've never really been my thing. A small shot of gazpacho perhaps, but I've never really enjoyed a big bowl of a cold soup.

Pumpkin soup is my husbands favourite soup in the whole world! I like it too, but prefer to be a bit more creative than doing the same old thing all the time. This carrot soup was a perfect alternative. Still orange, still hearty and tasty, but with a bit of a twist. The roasted hazelnuts give an extra nuttiness and add texture. The dollop of natural yoghurt gives some acidity and creaminess. The soup is quite thick, so if you prefer, add a bit more stock or water.

I used hazelnuts which were already roasted, as I was feeling lazy and that was all that was available at the time. If you wanted to roast your own, place the nuts on a baking tray and roast in the oven at 180 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and tip onto a clean tea towel. Fold into a parcel and rub to remove the bitter skins. Allow to cool before you chop.

We devoured this soup with a beautiful fresh baguette from the local French patisserie. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Carrot Soup With Roasted Hazelnuts

A drizzle of olive oil

1kg carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

4 cups of vegetable or chicken stock

100g roasted hazelnuts

Juice of 2 lemons, or to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Chopped parsley and natural yoghurt to serve 

Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. 

Add the onion, garlic and carrot and cook until the onion begins to soften, but does not brown.

Add the stock and half the hazelnuts, cover with a lid and simmer until the carrots are soft.

Allow to cool slightly, then blitz with a food processor or stick blender until smooth.

Stir through the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Coarsely chop the remaining hazelnuts.

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls, top with a dollop of natural yoghurt and a sprinkling each of parsley and hazelnuts. 

Prawns And Corn

After a busy day, and week, at work, there is nothing better on a Friday night than an easy dinner that is quick to prepare, but which is full of flavour. This meal ticked all the boxes! Prawns don't take long to cook at all and quickly boiling the corn and chargrilling it didn't take long either.

If our vegie garden was doing a bit better this summer, the tomatoes would have come from the garden. Unfortunately the hot weather has really given it a beating, so the tomato plants have been suffering. A quick stop at the local fruit and vegetable shop and I had a punnet of beautiful mixed heirloom cherry tomatoes to use. Yellow, red and purple, they looked and tasted delicious! Nothing beats the flavour of fresh produce that actually tastes how it is meant to.

This recipe was based on one in the February edition of Gourmet Traveller magazine. I used a different dressing, as I had some left over from the beautiful fig and goat's curd salad I made on Valentine's Day. I also didn't have access to shiso leaves, so used mint and coriander instead.The flavours were fresh and the corn amazingly sweet.

If you don't like prawns, then you could easily serve the salad with fish, chicken or even lamb or beef. For a vegetarian version, the sweet corn and juicy tomato would also match perfectly with fried haloumi slices. In fact, I think this might be my next version. Salty, sweet and fresh all in one dish!

Prawn, Chargrilled Corn and Tomato Salad

1 shallot, finely diced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
A pinch of caster sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

 2 corn cobs, husk removed
A drizzle of olive oil
1 punnet of mixed heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved
2 spring onions, ends trimmed and cut into thin slices
A handful of fresh mint leaves
A handful of fresh coriander leaves
12 prawns, shells removed but tails left on



To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a small jar and shake to combine. Season to taste.

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and add the corn cobs. Bring the water back to the boil, then turn the heat off.
Drain the corn and set aside.
Heat a chargrill pan or the BBQ over medium heat.
Drizzle corn cobs with oil and cook for 5 minutes, turning regularly, so that you get grill marks on the flesh.
Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
When cool enough to handle, stand the cobs on their end and remove the kernels with a sharp knife.
Place the corn in a bowl with the tomatoes, spring onion, mint and coriander.
Toss the salad with enough of the dressing to ensure it is well coated and season with salt and pepper to taste.

In a clean pan, heat a another drizzle of oil until hot and fry prawns for about a minute on each side, or until the flesh has turned slightly pink and opaque.
Quickly toss the cooked prawns through the salad and serve on a platter for everyone to help themselves.

And To Drink....

 I was introduced to the amazing range of Vinaceous wines at a recent Fabulous Ladies Wine Society dinner held in Melbourne. This winery from Margaret River in Western Australia makes beautiful wines with quirky labels that are a bit of fun. Mr Vinaceous, Nick Stacy, has created a range of wines featuring himself as a ringmaster of sorts, with images of ex-girlfriends as the main act. His father, a big influence in his life is on the labels of the red wines. Names such as Sirenya (pinot gris), Shakre (chardonnay), Salome (tempranillo rose), Raconteur (cabernet) and Red Right Hand (shiraz grenache tempranillo) also add mystery and intrigue.

I was most impressed with his chardonnay and tempranillo rose, but particularly liked this pinot gris for a light, fragrant white to have in the warmer weather.

The fruit from this wine came from the Adelaide Hills in South Australia and has plenty of passionfruit, apple and apricot, without being overpowering. It is clean and crisp with fine acidity and minerality.

The Vinaceous pinot gris matched perfectly with the sweetness of the prawns and the corn and the acidity of the tomatoes. While the pinot gris is a lovely food wine, it would also be gorgeous on a warm day, sitting out in the sun with some smoked salmon, fresh bread and good friends!

Yarra Valley Food And Wine

This weekend my husband and I were lucky enough to escape the kids for a night and head to the Yarra Valley in Victoria, to indulge in some beautiful food and wine. The Yarra Valley is one of Victoria's cooler climate wine regions, specialising in pinot noir, chardonnay and syrah, and produces some amazing dairy products, fruits, vegetables, meat and a whole array of homemade goodies.

It so happened that this weekend was also part of an annual festival called Grape Grazing, where a variety of food and wine related events and live music are held and a lot of the smaller wineries are open or have their wines on tasting. While wandering the main street of Healesville, we came across a tasting called New Wave, showcasing the smaller wineries that are generally not open to the public. Wanting to support the little guy, we were keen to try some new wines.

Of the ten small producers at the event, we ended up buying from four of them. The wines were fantastic and all from wineries we had never come across before.

Journey Wines

Journey Wines are made by one of the former sommeliers at Tetsuya's restaurant in Sydney. Damian's love of wine lead him to study wine making and he has worked at other wineries in Australia and overseas. A few years ago he finally decided to start his own label. He makes a chardonnay and a pinot noir from Yarra Valley fruit and a shiraz from Heathcote grapes. The chardonnay and pinot noir were both amazing. As someone who is not normally a chardonnay drinker, I surprisingly loved this one and could quite happily drink it on its own or with a nice meal. It wasn't heavily oaken at all, had a nice acidity and plenty of ripe fruit flavours.

Precipice Wines

Another winery started by someone who had spent a long time in the wine industry, Marty decided to create Precipice Wines to make the style of wines he loves to drink. He uses Yarra Valley fruit to make a chardonnay and syrah.  Being a syrah, rather than shiraz, this wine is much softer, with plenty of fruit flavours and low tannins. Complex, smooth and delicious! Again the chardonnay was lightly oaked, fruit driven and very approachable. One to drink on a warm afternoon in the sun!

Trellis

Trellis Wines are another small producer in the Yarra Valley, making great wine at an affordable price. A pinot noir, syrah, chardonnay, riesling and a pinot rose make up their range. The chardonnay and pinot noir were particularly good. Another chardonnay that I really enjoyed. What is going on! Both wines were lovely to drink now, but will continue to improve with another couple of years in the  bottle. Not sure I can wait that long!

Out of Step Wine Co

These guys currently only make two wines, a chardonnay and a sauvignon blanc. Not just any old sauv blanc, mind you! If you think that the New Zealand style is too much - too green, too tropical, then this one is for you. Lightly oaked, it has much more complexity and depth of flavour. Plenty of lemony citrus, with a little bit of greenery, but not so much that it's overpowering. Out of Step with other wines made from the same grape variety, but in step with my palate!

Brumfield/Crothers

Brumfield winery was previously unknown to us, but we visited after our sommelier at dinner revealed that it was his father's winery and that he also made some wine on the side. We were Impressed with his wine knowledge and wine matching at dinner and thought we'd head along to check them out. We were not disappointed. The marsanne that Aaron produces under his own label, Crothers, was rich and buttery with plenty of honeysuckle and a touch of citrus. A big wine, full of complexity, but delicious to drink now or cellar for a special occasion. The other Brumfield wines include a shiraz rose, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and a sparkling pinot noir chardonnay. We loved the rose, which was quite savoury and with only a touch of sweetness. The shiraz and cabernet were big and rounded, with fine tannins and good red fruit flavours. 

We were so glad we called in to visit and will now look out for these wines when we dine locally. It's always great to have new recommendations of a small producer.

Five Oaks

The Five Oaks winery was also recommended to us by Aaron, our sommelier at dinner. It is a winery very close to his parents property and one which seemed to influence him quite heavily. Owner, Wally, was a nuclear physicist in a past life, but decided to turn his talents to winemaking thirteen years ago. Along with his wife, he creates cabernet sauvignon, merlot, a cabernet merlot blend, riesling and a heady cabernet rose. The rose was a deep red, almost the colour of a grenache, and served lightly chilled, it was a taste sensation! Red berries and plum with a touch of acidity and a little residual sugar. Perfect to sip on a warm day, with a plate of prosciutto, cheese and fresh bread.

As much as we tried some amazing wines, there was some pretty amazing food too! It started with a six course degustation at Eleanor's Restaurant in the historic Chateau Yering Hotel.  We had high expectations for dinner, as we'd heard great things, and we weren't disappointed.  Each course was beautifully presented and matched with a wine which perfectly complemented the flavours in the dish. Our Sommelier, Aaron, was incredibly knowledgeable about the wine matches and we had a good chat with him about the wines for each course. A highlight for me was the vegetarian entree, Vegetable Garden. Delicate and beautiful, it was delicious!

We were also lucky enough to time our visit with the monthly Yarra Valley Farmer's Market held at Yering Station. Here local farmers and small producers displayed their wares and offered tastings of their products. We were spoilt for choice and could easily have come away spending way too much money on gourmet treats!

The Giverny Estate Kiwi Fruit cider was a complete revelation! I'm generally not a great lover of kiwi fruit, but this cider was amazing. Despite being 7% alcohol, it was very light and refreshing, with only a hint of kiwi flavour. On a hot summer's day, this would be perfect. Unfortunately this cider is only available at local farmer's markets, but they will ship Australia wide for a $15 flat rate. Giverny Estate also make still and sparkling wines from kiwi fruit too, if you're looking for something a bit different and unique.

I love to make jams, but often don't make berry jams as I can't really justify spending $6 a punnet on fruit that I'm just going to make into jam.  I am more than happy to support a small producer who makes a great product. The Australian Harvest organic blackberry and raspberry jams were just divine! Made with fruit and sugar, they don't contain any nasties and taste just like your Grandma used to make. Ripe fruity flavours with just the right amount of acidity, these reminded my husband of the jams he used to have as a kid. Perfect on fresh bread, toast or on hot scones just out of the oven with lashings of cream!

Pate is one of my favourite indulgences and I love it spread on to fresh crusty bread or on hot toast. We came across these pates made by Chef's Fine Food. I loved the Venison and Muscat, which was a bit stronger and had a lovely sweetness from the muscat. My husband loved the Duck and Grand Marnier, which was slightly milder.  Both were amazing and unfortunately for me, we had to buy both! They also made a chicken pate, smoked salmon pate, chicken and pistachio terrine and gourmet pies. 

Flavoured olive oils are great to have in the cupboard to add a bit of interest and zing to salad dressings and marinades or to just dip fresh bread into. I have often bought lemon or basil infused oils, but you tend not to see ones infused with more interesting flavours. These oils made by Olivetto were beautiful. The blood orange oil had a sweetness and acidity to it which would match perfectly with chicken, pork or seafood. It was understated elegance in a bottle! The lemongrass oil had a more pungent aroma and taste, perfect to use with any Asian style foods. They also made a chilli oil, with a pretty strong bite, a refreshing lemon oil and a funky truffle infused oil. I can't wait to get experimenting with these oils and finding new ways to use them!

I am probably more a coffee person, particularly in the morning, but I do like a good cup of tea to relax me before bed. The Yarra Valley Tea Co produce a huge range of mainly herbal teas for all sorts of conditions and uses. We liked the sound of the New You Detox and Nod Off. Perfect teas to help cleanse the system and help with getting a restful nights sleep. Check them out if you are looking for something a little bit different for yourself or as a present for someone you love. They stock their teas more widely around Victoria, so you might be lucky to find it closer to home.

Finally, our last purchase was a great sauce, called Ricci's Soyoza. This Asian style sauce is a combination of soy sauce, lemongrass, chilli and garlic, with a pungent aroma. Ricci suggests using his sauce in stir frys, marinades, as a dipping sauce for rice paper rolls, or just drizzled over barbecued meat. It really is a flavour bomb and I can't wait to get experimenting with it in the kitchen.

With bursting bellies, we drove home from our weekend in the Yarra Valley with a boot full of foodie treats and new wines. It was a wonderful weekend away and we discovered so many great products. If you live nearby, definitely head to the Yarra Valley for some beautiful food and wine. 

Udder Delights Cheese

Last weekend I was in Adelaide for my Mum's birthday and was lucky enough to pick up an enormous pack of gorgeous Udder Delights Cheese. Udder Delights produces goat and cow's milk cheeses in the beautiful Adelaide Hills town of Lobethal, with their shop and cafe in Hahndorf.

Their range includes a goat curd, chèvre, goat camembert and brie and a goat blue. They also make a camembert, brie, double cream brie and Heysen blue from cow's milk.

My pack included a 1kg tub of the amazing goat curd, three 100g mixed goat brie and camembert and 500g of the Heysen blue. Paired with some crackers, dried fruit and nuts, it made the perfect cheese platter for the birthday party.

Unfortunately there was a big wedge of the blue, one camembert and half a tub of the curd left over that I just had to bring back home! As a result, we've been living on goat's cheese this week. Such a tough life, but someone has to do it!

I thought I'd share with you a couple of the salads and side dishes I've made this week and give you a couple of other suggestions of how to use goat's curd.

The Udder Delights curd is not too 'goaty', which means it is low in acidity and very creamy. It matches perfectly will all sorts of fruits and vegetables, so you can use it for sweet and savoury dishes. It is a great match in zucchini fritters, atop pasta, wrapped in prosciutto for an appetiser or on its own, spread onto fresh bread. Goat's curd on a pea and broad bean tart is a match made in heaven!

I have only made savoury meals this week, but will try something sweet next week. Goat's curd matches perfectly with fresh figs, ripe peaches and nectarines, if you wanted to make a dessert that wasn't overly sweet. It also bakes well into muffins, cakes or tarts. I think I might try a cheesecake or panna cotta.

For the first meal we had this week, I paired asparagus with the curd and served it with a nice steak, marinated in some red wine, garlic and pomegranate molasses. I also roasted some home grown potatoes with whole garlic cloves, lemon rind, lemon juice and a touch of chilli, for something different.

Tonight we had the zucchini and eggplant salad, served with panko crumbed snapper. Simple but very tasty.

I can't wait to finish the rest of the tub!

How would you eat your goat's cheese? I'd love to know how you enjoy this amazing product.

Asparagus With Goat's Curd

1 bunch of asparagus, woody ends removed

1/2 cup goat's curd

1 Tbs toasted pinenuts

A squeeze of lemon juice

A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

A drizzle of pomegranate molasses

Freshly cracked black pepper

Place asparagus in a heat proof container and pour boiling water over it. Allow to sit for approx 1 minute, then drain.

Place blanched asparagus on a serving platter and sprinkle with pine nuts.

Decoratively blob the goat's curd over the asparagus.

Drizzle with oil, pomegranate molasses and a squeeze of lemon juice, to taste.

Finish with freshly ground black pepper.

Simple but delicious!

Chargrilled Eggplant And Zucchini With Goat's Curd and Pomegranate

1 zucchini

2 Lebanese eggplants

1 pomegranate

A handful of fresh parsley, coarsely chopped

A handful of fresh mint, coarsely chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tsp verjuice

1 1/2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil plus extra for grilling

1/3 cup goat's curd

Salt and pepper to taste

Slice the zucchini and eggplant lengthways into roughly 5mm slices.
Place the eggplant in a colander and generously sprinkle with salt. Set aside for 15 mins to drain the bitter juices. Rinse the salt and pat dry.
Heat a chargrill pan or BBQ over medium heat.
Brush vegetable slices lightly with oil and chargrill until golden and tender. Remove to a plate and set aside.
For the dressing, combine lemon juice, verjuice, oil and salt and pepper to taste.
Pour half of the dressing over the eggplant and zucchini and toss to combine. Allow to absorb the dressing.
To remove the seeds from the pomegranate, cut it in half and then hold in an open palm over a bowl in the sink. Using a spoon, beat the skin side until all the seeds fall into the bowl. Remove any bits of the white pith that fall into the bowl.
To serve, drain vegetables from extra dressing and place on a platter. Top with chopped mint and parsley, pomegranate seeds and blobs of goat's curd. Drizzle with a little of the remaining dressing and a good grinding of black pepper.

Enjoy!

Using Up The Leftovers

I hate to waste bits and pieces that are in the fridge, so like to make up dishes that use what I have. I particularly like working with herbs and vegetables or fruits that can't be frozen or preserved in some way.

Following our Chinese New Year dinner, I had fresh coriander and coconut cream in the fridge that needed to be used. An Asian style dish was calling to me, but how best to use the ingredients? Being hot weather, I wanted something light and tasty, with the coconut cream making a marinade or sauce. I decided to whiz up the coriander and coconut cream with some garlic, chilli, fish sauce and lemon juice to make a dressing for a salad. Lime juice would work equally as well, but i didn't have any on hand.

When buying seafood, I tend to overlook squid as it can be rubbery if not cooked properly. As a change from fish or prawns, which I'd normally buy, I opted for a couple of squid tubes. When cleaned and scored into diagonals, little pieces of squid curl up into beautiful curls. They take only minutes to cook and are loved by kids as well as adults. Because squid doesn't have a very strong flavour of its own, you need a sauce or marinade with plenty of oomph. The coconut and coriander was perfect. If you don't like chilli, you could leave it out, but for me that bit of bite is perfect.

This sauce would also be wonderful with prawns, fish or chicken, so mix it up with whatever you feel like eating or what you have in the fridge or freezer.

To make my salad, I used green beans from the garden and some red capsicum and spring onions that were in the fridge. To bulk it up, I added some vermicelli noodles. You could really use anything that you like to make up the salad component. Baby corn, red onion, snow peas, julienned carrot....... The list is almost endless.

Coriander and Coconut Squid Salad

1 bunch of coriander, roots removed, leaves and stems washed

1/3 cup coconut cream

1 small red chilli, seeds removed, coarsely chopped

1 clove of garlic, coarsely chopped

1/4 tsp fish sauce

Juice of 1 lemon or lime (or to taste)

Place everything in a small food processor or blender and blitz until finely chopped and smooth. You should have a nice green, creamy consistency. 

Taste for flavours and correct with more lemon juice or fish sauce, if needed.

50g dried vermicelli noodles, soaked in water until soft, then drained

A handful of green beans, blanched and cut in half

1/2 a red capsicum, thinly sliced

2 spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced

2 squid tubes, cleaned and dried

A good drizzle of olive oil

Salt to taste

To make the salad, put the drained noodles in a bowl with the beans, red capsicum and spring onions and toss to combine.

Drizzle with half the coriander and coconut dressing so that the noodles and vegetables are well coated.

Set aside the remaining dressing.

To prepare the squid, place a tube on a chopping board and insert a knife inside. Cut the tube into two pieces of equal size.

Score the inside with long thin cuts on each diagonal, being careful not to cut all the way through.

Using a sharp knife, cut each piece into halves and then into thirds. 

Repeat with the second squid tube.

You should end up with 24 small pieces.

Heat a good drizzle of olive oil in a frying pan or wok over high heat.

Add the squid and a good pinch of salt and toss for about 2 minutes or until the squid has curled into rings and is slightly golden.

Place the dressed noodle salad on plates and then top with the squid curls.

Drizzle with a little extra dressing and extra fresh coriander, if you have it.

Enjoy!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Every year I like to make a special dinner to celebrate Chinese New Year, not because I have a Chinese background at all, but just because I like to eat and cook new foods.

This year, my birthday fell on the same day, so what better way than to celebrate with a feast!

A few years ago I made prawn toast using Neil Perry's recipe and it was seriously the best, but naughtiest, thing I've ever eaten. Deep fried prawny goodness! When planning the menu for six adults, I couldn't go past making these again. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo before they were all gobbled up by the family, so you won't get to see them in their glory. They are a bit fiddly and messy with the deep frying, but they are definitely worth it. Everyone was suitably impressed!

The satay mushrooms were my own invention. I wanted to have something to start off the night that was small and tasty, whetting appetites for the rest of the meal. The sauce was rich and thick, but matched perfectly with the earthiness of the mushrooms. I used small mushrooms as I wanted to serve them as a single mushroom on a spoon with a little of the sauce, but you could also serve them on rice to make a full meal. There was quite a bit of the satay sauce left over, so I plan to make some chicken or beef skewers in the next few days and use the rest of the sauce then.

Peking duck is essential in my books for any Chinese celebration and I just happened to have a duck in the freezer that needed using up. I have never been able to get that really crispy skin on a duck because I don't really have anywhere I can safely hang a duck overnight to let it dry out. This time I thought I'd try a trick that I'd read about on the internet and it worked a treat. Once the skin had been basted with a honey and water solution four times and dried somewhat in the fridge, I then got out my trusty hairdryer and used it to further dry the skin. It ended up looking like paper and crisped up into a golden brown shell. It was perfect! Now to learn how to carve a duck properly.

San choy bau is another Chinese classic and I wanted to add a bit of freshness to the meal with the lettuce cups. I have made this many times before and I essentially followed the same recipe as I used last time. See it here. To add an extra bit of crunch, I also used chopped water chestnuts, diced red capsicum and sliced sugar snap peas. The extra vegetables gave it a beautiful colour and additional sweetness.

The Chinese aren't really known for their desserts, so this was probably the hardest course to decide on. Being my birthday, I wanted something that could be served like a cake with a candle in it, rather than being individual serves. Previously I had made a mango and coconut ice-cream, so thought that something cold and refreshing might be the way to go. I ended up going with pineapple and coconut. The sweetness and acidity of the pineapple perfectly combined with the creamy coconut milk. Studding the top were shards of chilli toffee, which gave additional sweetness with a bit of bite. It was a nice, light end to a rich meal on a hot night. Unfortunately it did freeze quite hard, rather than being nice and creamy, but without an ice cream machine, I'm not sure how to overcome this. It still tasted pretty good, so I don't mind too much. Leaving it for 5 or 10 minutes to soften before you serve is probably a good idea.  If you didn't want to use pineapple, mango would also work well. If you didn't mind the colour bleeding in to the coconut, you could use berries too. In fact, a pinky/purple swirl would look lovely.

Satay Mushrooms

20 small button mushrooms

A drizzle of olive oil

1/2 a small onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

1-2 Tbs soy sauce (to taste)

1 cup coconut cream

Heat a drizzle of oil in a frying pan and cook the mushrooms over medium heat until starting to brown and soften. Turn off the heat and set aside.

In another saucepan, heat a drizzle of oil and fry onion on medium heat until it starts to soften, but not brown.

Add the peanut butter and stir until it softens and melts.

Gently stir through the soy sauce to taste.

Gradually add the coconut cream while stirring, to incorporate without lumps.

Continue to stir until smooth, then add the mushrooms back into the sauce to reheat.

Serve the mushrooms individually on spoons, or with rice as a main meal.

 Neil Perry's Prawn Toast

500g raw prawns, shells removed and cleaned

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

3cm piece of ginger, skin removed and chopped

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg white

1 tsp sesame oil

4 spring onions, finely chopped

9 slices of white bread, crusts removed

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup panko crumps

Oil for deep frying

Sweet chilli sauce to serve

Combine prawns, garlic, ginger, sugar, salt, egg white and sesame oil in a food processor and whiz until smooth. Stir through the spring onions.

Cut each bread square into two triangles.

Spread a good tablespoon of prawn mixture over the top of each piece, making sure it goes right to the edges. You might need to use your finger for this. Having them slightly damp helps.

Brush the sides of the bread and the top of the prawn mixture lightly with egg wash.

Sprinkle the tops lightly with panko crumbs and press gently to stick.

Heal about 5cm of oil in the base of a large saucepan to 180 degrees on a thermometer or until a wooden skewer starts to bubble when placed in the oil.

Deep fry the toasts in batches of 3 or 4 until golden, turning to ensure both sides are cooked.

Drain on paper towel and keep warm while you are cooking the rest.

Serve on a platter with sweet chilli sauce for dipping and plenty of serviettes.

Pineapple and Coconut Terrine With Chilli Toffee

300g fresh pineapple, skin removed and diced

1/4 cup caster sugar

1 tin coconut cream

2/3 cup caster sugar

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

Place pineapple and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the sugar has become liquid and the fruit has softened.

Turn the heat off and allow to cool.

Stir the coconut cream through the pineapple mixture to combine and then pour into a plastic wrap lined loaf tin or individual moulds.

Place in the freezer overnight, or until frozen.

For the toffee, combine the sugar and chilli in a small saucepan. 

Heat over low heat, swirling occasionally to help the sugar to melt and combine. Do not stir this mixture or the toffee will not work.

You need to watch this like a hawk as a 2 second look away can result in burnt toffee!

Once the sugar has melted and reached a golden brown, pour it on to a baking paper lined tray, tipping as you go to create a thin sheet of toffee.

Set aside in a cool place to set.

To serve, tip the terrine out on to a serving plate and remove the plastic wrap. Break the toffee into shards and stick into the top of the terrine. Cut into slices to serve.