No. 11: Fasting and feasting

Last weekend I had the pleasure of partaking in an intimate BBQ soiree for seven at Kylie and Brendan's place in Northcote (Wanda, Brendan and Kylie are pictured at right). Since I'd last visited their place, they've undertaken a Backyard Blitz, and what had been a bit of a disaster area (their words) is now a tropical paradise. It was a beautiful warm Melbourne night, perfect for chilling out under the stars, grass hut roof overhead and palm trees all around, with the antics of various wildlife - and Cody - to keep us entertained...

Kylie and Brendan are participating in Feb Fast, and had sworn off alcohol, red meat, and chicken for the month - but were quite understanding about the fact that their guests had signed on for Feb Indulge, so were unable to join them in their total (and admirable) abstinence. I felt it appropriate to contribute a fat-free fish dish from the Heart Foundation cookbook, so we could all feel a bit virtuous together.

My plan was to prepare the Blue Eye with Mango Salsa (page 52), but I was slightly foiled by the fact that by the time I made it to my local fish market, the blue eye had all sold out. Undeterred, I soldiered on and decided to make the same dish using flathead - a rather different fish from blue eye, but one of my favourites. As well as mango, the salsa has tomato and onion, coriander, lime, chilli, and garlic. It was really delicious, and complemented the fish beautifully (guess I should mention that the fish was skilfully grilled by the aforementioned Kylie...)

And there was lots of other yummy food... vegetarian burgers, meat, and fabulous salads. I won't mention the chocolate we finished with later - in moderation, of course! Nor will I mention the highly competitive after-dinner Boggle games involving each of us, one by one, vs Cody - he is nearly (but not quite) unbeatable at word games, and a rematch or two may be required to sort out who really is The King of Boggle...

No. 10: The Mega Blog!

What happens when you get eight managers together for a BBQ, each cooking a recipe from the Heart Foundation cookbook, and each willing to contribute to a blog about it? You get a fabulous meal, lots of laughs, and a MEGA blog!

The management team from the Heart Foundation's Victorian Division each brought in their little eskies to work last week, and at 12 noon on the dot we strode down to Batman Park on the Yarra River and cooked up a storm. Left to right in the photo are Roanna, Kellie-Ann, Carl, Kathy, Suzanne, and David. Here's what the team had to say about our group barbie...

David:

The challenge was made and accepted – select a meal from the HF BBQ cookbook and be prepared to cook it on Thursday 28 January ... at high noon. Not being a virtuoso of the kitchen it took me a little while to open the cook book and select something. Checking with the other chefs to make sure I had an appropriate selection I was told we might have too much and why not make a salad instead. A salad … men don’t make salads (or is that "eat quiche"). Anyway, I was charged with making the Turkish Salad. Having the shopping list at the ready, it was off to get the ingredients. Top of the list was 500g of tomatoes. Easy, or so I thought. There are many varieties and sizes of tomatoes; which to buy? After looking panicked in the tomato aisle I finally made my selection and moved onto to the other ingredients. A quick phone call home to find out what harissa was and if we had any. Fortunately (for me) this is an optional item and so I chose not to include it. Did not having it make the salad miss a taste sensation? … I’ll never know.

The preparation of the salad began with the fine chopping of the parsley and mint leaves then adding the seeded and sliced Lebanese cucumber. At this stage the salad bowl doesn’t look to have much in it and only the tomatoes to go. I begin to think I should have more ingredients to add volume to the salad. Nevertheless I continue on and follow the instructions. Cutting the tomatoes, adding them into the bowl and then tossing the ingredients ….. all of a sudden a salad appeared. Adding the final touches, chilli flakes, red wine vinegar and pomegranate juice (the recipe uses pomegranate molasses, but I couldn’t get it) the salad was complete. It was too easy, surely there was more to do, I should be taking something else to the BBQ. Will I progress to something else in the BBQ Cookbook; most definitely.

Siobhan:

I rather liked the look of the pork fillet and nectarine salad recipe (page 109). The prospect was daunting because, as media manager in Kathy’s executive team, I’m much more comfortable "cooking-up" public profile opportunities than meals, especially ones that will be consumed by my esteemed colleagues!

An unexpected early set-back through difficulties finding three of the ingredients – watercress, shallots and nectarine jam – was quickly overcome. It did take a visit to three separate stores, but I found shallots in the second store, then utilised the recipe alternative of apricot jam to sweeten. I never did find watercress, however, despite it being in season virtually year-round. Luckily, Oakleaf Lettuce (chosen because it has similar vitamins to watercress), proved an excellent substitute.

From that point onwards, I am happy to report that the recipe was extremely easy to prepare. I didn’t fire-up the barbecue but found a desktop griller did the job equally well, including the grill marks important for the visual appeal of the recipe. Peppercorns proved an excellent season for the pork fillet (heart smart pork fillet, of course), and the combination of jam and shallots gave an interesting bittersweet aspect to the dish. Most importantly, this is an extremely tasty dish, and I’m delighted to report that it was well received by all.

I will definitely be preparing this meal again in future!

Kellie-Ann:

When Kathy suggested a barbie by the Yarra as a ‘management team bonding’ experience I jumped at the chance to be involved, however there was a catch- I, together with my esteemed colleagues needed to cook a dish from the Heart Foundation BBQ Cook Book to attain entry. Hmmm…….. BBQs had never been my strong point as in our household my husband Mike was definitely the King of the Barbie Mate whereas I preferred to fuss about in the kitchen. So what could I cook that didn’t expose my ineptness in this area of gastronomy? I decided that desserts may be a good option not only for their simplicity but also because I had never considered cooking ‘sweets’ on the BBQ before and I was keen to give it a go.

I decided to try 2 desserts: Caramelised pineapple with pistachio nuts and sorbet (p 142 ) and BBQ fruit parcels (140). Apart from a bit of chopping, dicing, slicing and de-stoning of the various fruits involved in these recipes the preparation was very simple ( although I did experience some frustration trying to de-stone the cherries without a whiz bang gadget to assist me) . The caramelised pineapple dessert took no time to prepare – just peel and slice the pineapple, lightly coat both sides of each slice with brown sugar, pop on the barbie for about 10 minutes, stack the pineapple slices on top of one another, sprinkle with the chopped unsalted pistachio nuts and a dollop of sorbet on the side and viola! Very nice and the lemon sorbet complemented it well.

The fruit parcels, although they required a little more preparation, were just as easy. I cubed the mango and rockmelon, quartered the peach and halved the cherries then added some blanched almonds and drizzled some honey over the fruit mixture. Simple. Finally, spooned the fruit combo into the prepared foil squares, added some lemon zest and sealed the parcels before cooking on the BBQ for about 10 minutes. The mix of honey and natural juices of the fruit plus the tangyness (is there such a word??) of the lemon zest and the sprigs of basil that were added to the parcels on serving created a lovely combination of flavours. Absolutely delicious plus healthy! Plenty of positive ‘yums’ from my fellow team mates, most of whom were keen to try this very easy dessert at their next barbie bash.

Suzanne:

Token vego here – back for another installment. As mentioned by my colleagues, we had a great BBQ lunch down on the banks of the Yarra. This is team bonding Heart Foundation style and also a great excuse to cook more food from our BBQ and Grill Cookbook.

I was in charge of the Bruschetta with cannellini beans and rocket topping (pg. 26). This was another fantastic and very easy recipe.

I could not find just plain rocket at my local supermarket so instead used a rocket and baby spinach mix – which I think turned out well. I made sure I washed it very well and drained it as per the instructions. I didn’t quite know how vigorous I needed to be in the ‘squeezing out’ of the excess water so was left with two little green clumps which I had to prise apart. My advice it to squeeze enough to make sure it doesn’t drip then stop!! I used quite mild chilli in the rocket topping as we have some people who don’t like it too hot. Next time I would use a little more garlic in the topping and add some cracked pepper.

The cannellini bean mixture was extremely easy to make. After draining the beans, just pop all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. I would add the juice of ½ a lemon then add a little more at a time until you get the consistency you are looking for. I found the juice of one lemon to be a bit much and made the mixture a too moist. I also added a little garlic to the bean mix along with some cracked pepper. When I make it again I will add a bit of chilli too to ramp up the zing factor.

For the bread I simply used a breadstick that I cut on the diagonal to get bigger slices. I sprayed each piece with some spray olive oil to crisp up and get some good colour. Assembling the bruschetta was simply a matter of spreading a little bean mix on each pieces of bread then top with a little of the rocket mix. These tasted delicious. I loved the contrast between the crispy bread and the soft cannellini bean mixture and the tang of the rocket mixture. I will definitely make this one again.

As for the other dishes cooked on the day, a personal favorite was the Barbequed vegetable pitas (complete with my home grown eggplants) and the Turkish chopped salad. Although not strictly vegetarian, I did enjoy sampling the Salmon Caesar salad.

We had a lovely family barbequing next to us at one point who kept looking longingly at our food. It was with great pride that we told them this was all healthy food. Trust me – we never miss an opportunity to spread our healthy eating message!

Carl:

I can’t say that I’m known for my cooking, in fact I share many a male's shyness when it comes to the kitchen and would surely perish should I ever find myself marooned on a distant desert island. However, fire up the BBQ, and like many a male, my inherent caveman and hunter gather tendencies rise to the surface and I promptly char any potential dinner to a crisp! So it was with a little trepidation that I signed up to cook in front of my Heart Foundation colleagues. Was it therefore mere chance that I skilfully chose a dish that would require minimal preparation and limited skill in cooking? Lemon Chicken dish on Page 74 with steamed squash vegetables.

The night before the "My BBQ Rules" showdown, I ventured off hunter gathering to an unfamiliar and strange land - a mystical place called a supermarket! Here I found the fresh ingredients of chicken chilli flakes, lemon and oregano. Back in the sanctuary of my secure dwelling, I slowly diced and combined the collected ingredients to marinate the chicken overnight, so all that was required was to cook the chicken the next day.

At the BBQ site the aroma as I opened my container of chicken was very inviting. In my head I was thinking – Hey! Did I this and it only took about 5 mins to prepare! True man cooking! I slapped the chicken onto the BBQ hot plate which turned out to be the biggest challenge as it was a slow heat. Never the less the chicken cooked delightfully and my colleagues were pleasantly surprised at the lemon freshness of the dish – or perhaps they were simply surprised that my cooking didn’t cause sickness! Either way I was pleased with the outcome. I enjoyed the experience so much; the following night I fired up the flame grilled BBQ at home and cooked the dish once more. Clearly I was better for the earlier experience and more comfortable on the home fire, for the flavours were enhanced as the flame grill gently brought out the warm chilli flakes to complement the lightness of lemon.

It was a great fun cooking with my colleagues, it was even more fun sampling their excellent cooking that came out of the HF BBQ cookbook. I have a bit of a sweet tooth and was particularly impressed with the BBQ desserts on offer – a treat I intend to cook and serve at the next family caveman BBQ.

Roanna:

My contribution to the blog arose from Kathy’s fantastic idea for the Divisional Management Team (DMT) to get together in the new year over a BBQ, and continue her little project of trying out recipes from the Heart Foundation’s BBQ Cookbook.

I found it quite difficult to choose from among the remaining recipes that Kathy hasn’t tried out – she had tried out over three quarters of the recipes!! Therefore there were only a few recipes to choose from, and I wanted a simple yet tasty recipe to make an impression with the DMT members. I now realised I shouldn’t have worried because all the recipes have been carefully selected to please!

I took the challenge to cook a lamb recipe, Lamb Cutlets with Green Bean and Tomatoes (Page 98) as I have never cooked it before. I’ve tasted so many well-prepared lamb dishes that combined a variety of spices to enhance the lamb’s strong flavours, and when I noticed that this recipe require no marination – just bung the lamb onto the BBQ with just a dash of cracked pepper – I was a little anxious about how it would turn out. As it turned out, barbecuing with minimal marination actually allows the natural flavours of the lamb to be brought out, and served with the mint-flavoured Green Bean and Tomatoes (prepared the night before), the flavours blended beautifully and complimented each other. I got thumbs up all round from the DMT members!!

It has been an eye-opening experience as I found I can now cook a delicious lamb recipe, quick and simple. I’ve since tried it out again with my family, and I can’t wait to try out other recipes with family and friends. What is even more amazing for me is that there is no salt required in any of the recipes.

I enjoyed the lovely dishes contributed by the other DMT members, prepared from the same cookbook, and I highly recommend everyone to grab a copy! I can’t wait to try out more recipes.

Michelle:

I cooked the Salmon Caesar Salad and it was awesome! It’s one of those dishes that looks great in the recipe book, but also looked great when I put it together (so often I find that a dish looks fantastic in the food styled photo, and my end result looks nowhere near as good!). I made a couple of changes to the recipe; call me crazy but I couldn’t find buttermilk at the supermarket no matter how hard I looked, and how many times I walked in circles (it was probably under my nose the whole time!) so I substituted low fat light sour cream. I also didn’t have plain wholemeal bread at home, so used the Helga’s light rye with pumpkin, sunflower and poppy seeds which was in the freezer … it made yummy croutons, and I was really generous with the garlic rub on both sides. As for the corn, I used low salt tinned corn kernels because I just didn’t have time to start from scratch with a fresh ear of corn.

I was really pleased with the results, and obviously so were the rest of the team because the dish disappeared pretty quickly! I have a couple of friends coming around for a barby on the weekend, and I plan to serve this as my main course; the only change I’ll make will be to add a little more lemon juice and cracked pepper to the dressing, as it was a little sweet for my taste. And after our team barby and the sensational dishes that everyone put together, I think I’ll probably do the Bruschetta with cannellini bean and rocket topping for nibbles to start with, and I’ll definitely finish off with the BBQ fruit parcels because they were fabulous. Trouble is, everything else was also so yummy, I’ll probably do my normal thing and put a couple of other dishes together as well (the Pork Fillet and Nectarine Salad is high on the list) … and end up with enough leftovers to feed a small African nation. All I can say is it’s a genetic thing, passed down from my mum, and her mum, and her mum … !

The thing that really impressed me about our whole event was how delicious every dish was. I’ve since bought a copy of the BBQ Cook Book for myself at home and started experimenting, and will also buy a few more to give as gifts. A friend of mine recently had his second heart attack and a subsequent 5-way heart bypass, and has been grumbling about the "rabbit food" his partner keeps feeding him. He’s first on my list to receive a copy of the book, because no-one could describe the food we ate as boring or tasteless, but it was all heart healthy. I can just hear him now … "who knew you could eat healthy and actually have something that tastes good at the same time?"!

Happy bbq-ing everyone … I hope you have the same great results that we had!

Kathy:

Phew! After reading all that I think I'd better keep my contribution to the blog as modest as my contribution to the BBQ! Which was... the vegetable pitas with goat's cheese and pesto mayo (page 22). I went vego to give some moral support to Suzanne, who's usually a lone voice in the wilderness. On this occasion she deserved extra support as she actually co-ordinated the menu for us - many thanks to the Hostess with the Mostest! Suzanne also brought along some little eggplants from her garden to add to my dish - they grilled up really well and absolutely "made" the dish. The mix of pesto and low fat mayo is a great idea and makes a fairly simple offering really tasty.

We all had great fun and a truly delicious lunch - we had heaps of leftovers, some of which we gave to the envious family cooking nearby, and the rest of which we brought back to the office and shared with the troops, who used terms such as "amazing" to describe our culinary feats. Thanks everyone, let's do it all again - soon!

No. 9: I am, you are, we are Australian

I'm sure I'm far from unique in having attended an Australia Day barbie. But how many others of you can claim to have cooked a heart healthy recipe on Australia Day?

The barbie I attended was hosted by Melinda, who's next to me in the photo, holding a pre-cooked version of my dish. (Note to self: Must stop posing for photos next to outrageously good looking people...)

Lots of Melinda's family and friends turned up for her BBQ, and given the delicacy of my dish (see below) and the competition to get food onto the actual BBQ, I decided to cook the dish - chicken breasts stuffed with goat's cheese and sundried tomatoes (page 60) - in Mel's oven. Once again proving that one does not need to be a dinkum Aussie bloke with a dinkum Aussie BBQ to be able to successfully cook from this book.

I pretty much followed the recipe on this occasion, and it was pretty simple. Mix up some ingredients (goat's cheese, garlic, sundried tomatoes, shallots, basil, etc), cut pockets in the chicken breasts, stuff the ingredients into the pockets, apply heat, and voila! Not sure whether any of you have ever tried to create pockets in chicken breasts. It's certainly possible, and my pockets were neat and attractive, but not deep, as the chicken breast was relatively shallow, and hence it was hard to stuff all the stuffing into the pockets. My pockets were in fact overflowing. So I ended up with chicken breasts with stuffing in and on top of them, which I thought may not hold together on the barbie, so I quickly stuffed into the oven without further ado, and cooked them for about 25 minutes.

When they were cooked I let them rest gently for a short period, before slicing and serving . They were very tasty and well received. People commented on the complexity of the flavours and the piquancy of the mix. Mind you, there were also many other dishes prepared by others, that were also getting good reviews (I recall partaking of grilled eggplant, couscous salad, chicken kebabs, meat kebabs, etc - all in moderation, of course), so I didn't let it go to my head...

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this one. Simple, quick, and tasty, and no fancy ingredients. Could be a good mid-week family meal, cooked on the barbie, under the grill, or in the oven.

No. 8: Vego's all let us rejoice ....

Happy Australia Day! We trust your Australia Day BBQ's were full of heart healthy options??? If not, do yourself (and your health) a favour and buy one of the Heart Foundation's BBQ Cookbooks or have a look at some of the fantastic recipes available for free on our Healthy Eating site.

Wrapping up the shameless plugs and before I go any further - I need to confess two things. Firstly, I am not the wonderful Kathy Bell. My name is Suzanne Ridley and I work for Kathy at the Heart Foundation. The second thing I need to confess is that I am a vegetarian. Before you start rolling your eyes and groaning I want to assure you I am not here to ram some ethical, greeny vegetarian message down your throats!!! Quite the opposite. As the token vego in the group, Kathy asked me to road test some of the fabulous vegetarian recipes in the BBQ Cookbook to show that a meatless BBQ can be achieved and it can be tasty. Since turning vego I have not taken much pleasure in the good old Aussie barbie but with great recipe ideas such as these and beautiful fresh ingredients we can all enjoy this great Australian tradition.

The recipe that I road tested on Australia Day was the Roast beet pizza with goat's cheese (pg. 20)

You may have guessed from the photo above that I made a slightly different version of the pizza than in the cookbook. My husband and I got a wood fired pizza oven for Christmas so I just had to try this pizza cooked over hot coals. To ensure accurate reportage, I did cook the cookbook version too – but had eaten most of it before I remembered my boss’s mantra "Make sure you take some photos!" This dereliction of duty will probably be raised at my performance review in a couple of weeks time but for now I hope you are all happy with me describing my experience of making the cookbook version.

Arguably, beetroot is the quintessential Australian vegetable. Who else but us Aussies feel a hamburger (vegie burger??) is not complete without a slice of beetroot? Tinned ones are great, but there is nothing better than roasting fresh beetroot as required by this recipe and it is really simple. Get a bunch of fresh beetroot, trim off the stalks then I wrap each beetroot individually in tin foil. No need to peel or fuss about. Cook for 30-40mins then cool. Simply top and tail the beetroot and the skin should just slip off. Yummo. I cooked my beetroot in the oven a couple of days before hand to save some time. This really the most complicated bit of the recipe. All you have to do on the day is chop up all of your ingredients, cook your pita then assemble. I found that I needed to put a little olive oil spray on the pita bread to help it crisp and mine took about 3 minutes to get that golden brown colour. The only other change I would make is to ditch the dried thyme I used in favour of the fresh stuff the recipe calls for. The intense flavour of the fresh herb would have completed the pizza.
This really is a great recipe - the beautiful rich beetroot is complimented by the smooth goat’s cheese and the bite of the spring onions. Fresh, tasty and healthy.

I hear what you saying ..."One vegie pizza does not a BBQ make!" Well stay tuned, over the next few days there will be a flurry of posts about some other meals that the team will be cooking up, including some more vegetarian options.

Thankyou letting a vegetarian loose on a BBQ Blog! Happy BBQs to all and here is hoping you add a few vego options to your next get together.

No. 7: If I knew you were coming, I'd have baked a cake

On the weekend I had a little BBQ to wish my friend Mmaskepe bon voyage, before she headed off for a month back home in Botswana. Her daughter Tab, and my daughter Amy and her boyfriend Kent, were also invited.

I met Skep when we were both working for a few years in Darwin. Tab, her daughter, is an artist who does amazing photographs and prints, and is starting her own business making unique cards and stationery. Many thanks to Tab for the photo montage on the left!

Having grown up in Botswana, a beautiful but landlocked country (or should that be beautiful and landlocked?), Skep never got to taste seafood as a child, but instead grew up eating plenty of meat and vegetables. She genuinely can't understand why people would eat something so odd-tasting as fish; when I try to describe a delicious seafood dish to her, her response is, "but what about the taste? Are you trying to tell me you actually like it??"

So it was a no-brainer to cook meat and vegies for Skep and Tab. I made balsamic sirloin steak with fennel, served with mushroom and pecorino salad (page 92), and couscous salad with chicken and lemon (page 116), followed by blueberry cake (page 148) for dessert.

The date, balsamic, and oil marinade for the meat is excellent - just remember (unlike me) to chop the dates before putting the ingredients in your blender; the effect will be much less startling, I'll guarantee. The marinade seeps into and tenderises the steak, and the result is really delicious. The accompaniment is a melted light cream cheese sauce with garlic and parsley - yum! The steamed then grilled fennel was also very good, especially with some lemon squeezed over. And the salad was nice and crunchy, though perhaps not so appealing to those who don't actually like mushrooms (Tab).

The hit of the day, however, was the couscous salad with chicken and lemon. I coated the chicken with moroccan spice before grilling and slicing it up, and it was really delicious. There's a great mix of fruit, veg and herbs in with the couscous, and we all loved it.

However, I can't give such a strong recommendation to the blueberry cake. It was the first time in years - in fact since I was a hippie child bride earnestly cooking from "Recipes for a Small Planet" - that I'd used a bunch of ingredients including wholemeal flour, raw sugar, canola oil, and buttermilk in a cake. I followed the recipe exactly, but the batter wasn't of the consistency to "spoon into the prepared cake tin" - it was more like a pancake batter, very pourable, and it took ages to cook. The resulting cake was very dense, with an appearance very much like the picture in the book, and a consistency to match. My guests were very kind, but all I can say is, the two punnets of blueberries I used for this cake could have been put to better use...

Here are some comments from my guests about the meal (with apologies to Iron Chef):

Skep: "It's a winner! The salad is light but fresh and crunchy at the same time. The fennel works really well and complements the steak - especially with the lemon."

Tab: "The couscous is definitely my favourite. I love the textures - the crunchy almond, the fluffy couscous..."

Amy: "The steak with cheese sauce tastes rich and decadent - you'd never know it's low fat."

Kent: "I like the couscous too. It's really simple and tastes great. The fact that it's healthy is a bonus!"

Skep and Tab are two of the most vivacious women you could ever meet, and we had a hilarious afternoon. Has everyone else in the world but me been following international versions of "Idol" on YouTube? Tab had us in stitches with her impersonations of certain Eastern European and South East Asian contestants (I'm afraid to name countries for fear of litigation!) Have to go now, have a date with YouTube...

No. 6: Don't come the raw prawn...

To celebrate (!) the end of our brief summer hols and our imminent return to work, I invited Kim and Brian over for dinner. Naturellement, another Heart Foundation BBQ experience was in the offing.

Kim had spent the day on Bridge Rd, shopping for a new summer wardrobe, and wore one of her fabulous new items to dinner - see pic. She will be happy to receive any compliments readers of the blog may wish to offer her.

Given how much eating we'd all been doing over the festive season, I decided another seafood and salad meal would be appropriate. The dishes du jour were quick thai prawn salad (page 29), tomato and onion salad with mint and chives (page 30), and rice and green chilli pilaf (page 36).

I have a confession to make: I didn't even actually use a barbie, not even my electric grill plate quasi-barbie, for this meal. The only thing that needed cooking other than the rice, was the prawns, and for ease of preparation I'd bought raw prawns already shelled and deveined (rather than barbequeuing prawns in their shell and then preparing them). I marinated them in a tiny bit of olive oil and a little garlic and chilli, then stir fried them in a big non-stick frypan. Whilst not totally faithful to the methode du recipe, I think this does prove that even non-barbequers will find something they enjoy cooking out of the book. The prawns were then mixed with a cucumber salad, quite similar to the one featured in Blog No. 5, but this time with a much spicier sauce. I also used heaps of chopped herbs (much more than quarter of a cup) and a crushed peanut garnish for the salad, and served it with extra lime segments, in addition to the lime in the dressing.

It was quite delicious. Kim said, "the smell of lime is great - it's really summery". Brian's contribution was, "these herbs are deeply, deeply, sensuous". I was relieved that he'd chosen to channel Nigella rather than Gordon Ramsay.

The tomato salad and the pilaf were good accompaniments - it all added up to a tasty, fresh meal which everyone enjoyed. A couple of Kim's food art pics are pasted below. I suspect she could be looking for a new career in food photography, so feel free to contact me with any offers.

Just one final note - the prawn salad was meant to be served with 3 cups of mizuna leaves. Neither I nor my very good local greengrocer had any idea what these were. I ended up using some other salad leaves ("lamb's breath"), which were very nice, but I feel like we may have missed out on a critical element that would have added that little something extra special to the meal. Dagnam it...

No. 5: Happy New Year!

After much feasting and socialising over the Christmas break, the obvious thing to do on New Year's Day 2010 was to continue along the same lines - but perhaps to go a bit lighter on the volumes of both food and people! So I invited Mike (friend), Amy (my younger daughter) and Kent (Amy's boyfriend) over to celebrate the New Year with a small seafood BBQ at my place.

For entree I made prawns with fennel slaw (page 38). I haven't used fennel as a salad vegie before but it worked very well, giving an aromatic aniseed-like flavour to the slaw. It was in danger of being overpowered though by the red onion in the recipe, so I'd recommend using less onion, or even none (I'm not a big fan of raw onion). The amount of dressing in the recipe seemed like too little, but because it's strongly flavoured, it turned out to be quite enough. The prawns were delicious - the chilli, lime, and mint flavours were really good and this was probably everyone's favourite part of the menu. The pic above shows Kent (flying the Queensland flag) and Amy with the entrees.

For main course, we continued along the spicy seafood theme with flathead with avocado lime salsa (page 46), and spicy cucumber salad and peanuts (page 36). Flathead's one of my favourite fish, and we grilled it on my little electric BBQ plate. A friend had told me that a good way to prevent fish sticking on your barbeque is to line the plate with baking paper and cook it on that. We tried that, but it didn't look like it was browning up very well, and it started sticking to the paper! So we gave away that idea and just grilled it in the usual manner, and it was very nice indeed, and well set off with the ginger and lime avocado salsa. The cucumber salad with peanuts was also very good - crunchy and tasty. Amy mentioned that she makes a similar Asian cucumber salad, but blanches the cucumbers, and her recipe includes fish sauce and fresh chillies. I do think fresh rather than dried chillies - and probably also coriander instead of parsley leaves - would work well for this salad, and will try that variation next time I make it.

Dessert was a delicious pannetone, decorated to a Stefano de Piero recipe, and definitely not from the Heart Foundation cookbook! Never mind, the festive season comes but once a year...