This is my totally easy, throw it all together starter to have just after drinks and just before some more fussed over main. It’s half way between a ceviche and a tartare, partly cooked by a little lime juice but not overly soaked in it. Besides, when you have such a perfect slab of sashimi grade yellowfin tuna (from Martin’s Seafood in Balmain), it would be a waste to cook it and spin the whole lot in other flavours.
Here we have 450g yellowfin tuna, trimmed of skin and those bloody dark red patches that are not so silken. Chop into 5mm cubes, then add to that 2 finely chopped golden shallot, a pinch of dried chilli flakes, juice and grated zest of of 1 lime, and the finely chopped flesh of 1 roasted capsicum, which you can buy in little jars doused in olive oil (from Essential Ingredient), or just do yourself (hold with metal tongs over a flame until blistered and black all over, then shove it in a paper bag and seal for 5-10 minutes – peel when cool). Drizzle the lot with 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and cover and leave in the fridge for up to an hour. Toss through 1 avocado, cut into dice the same size as the tuna, then season to taste. I serve this dish in little shot glasses with tiny spoons for a crowd, but it’s also great pushed into small ramekins and turned out on individual plates for each guest, scattered with baby herbs and another drizzle of olive oil and lime juice.
Next year I’m going to Spain. Sometimes you need to write these things down. Spain is not just paella, as the very talented foodie Gwyneth Paltrow, whose blog Goop I adore, has pointed out.
“There are tons of A-MAZING foods there. And when it’s done properly it’s the best food in the entire world. There is one episode where we were in Barcelona and we went to this tapas bar called Inopia. The meal still stays with me. It’s one of the best meals I’ve ever had.”
Here’s the menu from this incredible bar, only half of which I can decipher. Or check out the little short film from the insides of this uber cool bar as well.
My darling friend Kristin Hove has just returned home to Norway from Sydney, but when she was here she’d collect all these wonderful people to her flat and cook for us – or get us all to bring a plate with a certain theme guiding our culinary hands. As I converse, one way, with Gwyneth on the merits of Spanish cooking, I might plan a Spanish feast for friends, with these olive oil drizzled anchovies and super fresh seafood doused in oil and laden with garlic and spices and chargrilled.
When the sneaky “little trees” metaphor no longer flies and broccoli is just not finding its way into dinner, mushing it up beyond recognition with other green vegetables may just be the answer.
Three year old Lulu’s immediate reaction to the concept of “mean, green bruschetta” was “yuk”. But we steadfastly continued with our cooking plan. She was less interested during the cutting and blanching, somewhat distracted by the fridge magnets instead. Her interest heightened during the whirring and blending, keen to hold the noisy machine, and she was positively engaged by the idea of grating garlic on toast. And the final verdict? “Not yuk at all, actually.”
Kitchen Cadets, published in Good Living (The Sydney Morning Herald) looks at Lulu’s “mean, green bruscetta”. Every Tuesday in Good Living..
It was a perfect 22 degrees in Sydney and I couldn’t get a sesame chicken salad my mother used to make out of my mind. It’s a light Asian-style salad, all crunchy and tangy, with a creamy sesame dressing tying the crunch together with the soft poached chicken. The chicken is still warm when you serve it, tossed with toasted sesame seeds, chopped coriander and finely sliced French shallots and cucumber. This is a perfect Spring evening meal.
You need to start this recipe by getting everything in place – as the French call mis en place - and then just toss it all together and serve. Use organic free range chicken for this – you really should be able to taste the chicken, and nothing tastes better, or has a better texture, than when using birds that have scratched and pecked and which have not been filled with horrible horrible hormones and chemicals. This recipe serves 2 as a main, or 4 as a starter.
2 free range, organic chicken breasts2 tbsp unhulled tahini1 tsp light soy saucejuice of 1 lemon1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil2 Lebanese cucumbers, peeled and finely sliced1 large French shallot, peeled and finely sliced1 tbsp sesame seeds, dry roasted1 bunch coriander, roughly chopped
First, poach chicken breasts in a court bouillon (a quick stock, made from water simmered with some peppercorns, a few onion slices and a bay leaf). Gently simmer the court bouillon, add the whole chicken fillets and poach over a low heat for 6-8 minutes. When cooked, the juices should run clear when the chicken is pierced with a knife. Set aside to cool slightly.
Meanwhile, to make the dressing, combine tahini, soy sauce, lemon juice and olive oil together and whisk with a fork. Set aside. Then shred the chicken fillets by pulling the breasts apart with your fingers, shredding the chicken along its natural grain until you’re left with thin strips. Combine the chicken, cucumber, shallot and dressing in a bowl and toss together, season with salt and pepper. Scatter with coriander and sesame seeds and serve.
This is my good-intentions, use-everything-up-in-the-fridge, vegetable salad. Just feel terrible terrible when I have gorgeous organic vegetables going all overdue in the crisper, so this morning I whipped out everything I could find, all wintery seasonal, and made this…
There was enough for lunch, and I packed the rest away for lunch tomorrow. I had some fresh broad beans which were still at their peak, and gorgeous in-season fennel. This super easy salad requires a pan for frying, a drizzle of olive oil, and a couple of spoonfuls of homemade pesto. I made the pesto using a bunch of parsley I had, plus some pine nuts, a couple of small squares of fetta, 1 clove of raw garlic and salt and pepper, all whizzed up in a food processor (it seriously takes 5 seconds). I blanched the broad beans in a little salted water, and just tossed it all together with a handful of mint leaves. Squeeze half a lemon over the top. All herby and fabulous. And assuming we’re not worrying about the fat from the gorgeous extra virgin olive oil, this is one of the healthiest fast foods around.
Fish, or seafood generally, goes extremely well with pork. I made coral trout, a white fish, and wrapped it in pancetta recently, for example. And so in a bid to prove my point, here is a recipe for squid and chorizo salad, which is lovely on a winter day even though it’s easiest cooked on a barbeque. Am making it for a friend tomorrow for lunch, and if the weather is rubbish we’ll just have to be inside instead and have it with red wine and a movie. Cook the squid whole and then cut them up, so you don’t lose as much of the juice, making them much more tender. Top this salad with pomegranate seeds – they’re so pretty and add a lovely tart crunch. This recipe serves four, so halve for two.
500–750 g whole squid
2 tablespoons rice bran or olive oil
2 birds eye chillies, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
2 chorizo sausages
2 cups cracked wheat or brown rice, cooked
sea salt
handful each torn mint, flat-leaf parsley and coriander
olive oil and lemon juice, to serve
seeds from 1 pomegranate, to serve
1. Clean the squid by pulling carefully just below the head and removing the insides and the hard spine. For large squid, remove the skin by slipping your finger underneath and pulling off. Cut the tentacles off below the head and reserve. Leave the tubes whole.
2. In a bowl, combine the oil with the chilli, garlic, herbs and a good pinch of salt. Toss through the squid bodies and tentacles and leave to marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat a barbecue grillplate to high.
3. Cook the squid in batches, turning and basting frequently with the marinade, for about 5 minutes until opaque. Transfer to a cutting board as they cook. Meanwhile, barbecue the chorizo until cooked through.
4. Cut the squid into slices and the tentacles into small lengths then transfer to a serving bowl. Toss through the mint, parsley and coriander, sliced chorizo, cooked cracked wheat or rice, and season with some more salt. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds. Pour over a good glug of olive oil and some lemon juice and serve.
(Cook cracked wheat or brown rice according to instruction on the packet. Then rinse in cold running water and drain before adding to the salad).
It was just yesterday I was there but, like it melts you when you’re there, the tropics melts away quickly. But the colour – on my legs, my nose, and the garish brightness of the market stalls -remains. Green oranges that smelled like orange tictacs when they were squeezed, white creamy-centered coconuts, bright toys for dogs and babies, lolly-coloured orchids, people who can tear apart a coconut husk with their hands and laugh about being 200 years old, just replenished and made youthful by years of eating coconuts.
Don’t you love it when you can peel prawns on your own, dip them in salt, squeeze them with lemon and eat them all by yourself? Such a satisfying lunch today on the inlet in Port Douglas. Sat by the water with a bottle of beer and a bowl full of ice and prawns. A siesta is calling.
A very simple recipe, using homemade chicken stock (recipe coming), and clean fresh tasting vegetables. You could add cooked basmati or brown rice to the soup, but I’ve used a gluten free pasta shaped like letters! Made this for friends the other day and we all ended up trying to spell out our names by swirling our spoons through our soup. Great for actual children, rather than child-like adults, who won’t eat their vegetables!
I’ve shredded lemony sorrel into this soup, and thinly sliced baby zucchini that I got at the CarriageWorks food markets at Eveleigh, in Sydney, on Saturday. I scattered with finely grated lemon zest and finely chopped parsley, and parmesan would be a nice addition as well. If you’re adding pasta or rice, cook separately so it doesn’t cloud up the soup with starch, then rinse in cold water, then stir through the stock.
Serves 1
Sure, you can just grab an apple on the run. Or you can turn it into a more substantial and interesting breakfast bowl worthy of sitting down to.1 applea squeeze of lemon juice1 tablespoon chopped nuts, or LSA1 tablespoon honey2/3 tablespoons natural yoghurt
extra sliced fruits in season (berries, peaches, pears), to serve
Coarsely grate the unpeeled apple and stir through lemon juice, nuts, honey and yoghurt. Top with sliced fruit (optional). I’ve topped with blueberries and more apple, julienned, here.
>> LSA is a ground mixture made from linseed, sunflower seeds and almonds. You can make your own in a food processor or coffee grinder, but it’s also available from good grocers and food markets.
And here I have some recommended music for said speedy apple breakfast – gorgeous positive music to start the day with…
Tart and sweet and soft, not to mention particularly pretty, rhubarb is great to have already stewed in a jar in the fridge, ready to call on when needed. I made some today to have with vanilla yoghurt for breakfast before work tomorrow. Love love the colour to start the day on a happy note. [...]
You’re 100% more likely to be healthy, and exercise regularly if you’re doing it with someone else. This, if nothing else, is a way to make the most of living with someone else. Inspire each other to get fit and healthy together. Take turns and challenge each other to prepare healthy evening meals, and spur [...]
The Kitchen Inc. blog is written and edited by Kate Gibbs - a journalist, author and cook.
Food, travel, design >> How, when entwined together, these things inspire our daily culinary experiences >> The Kitchen Inc. covers food, kitchen-based inspiration, and workable design as it impacts our dining, eating, cooking lives.
Kate Gibbs writes a weekly column for Good Living in The Sydney Morning Herald on cooking with kids: Kitchen Cadets. She is the restaurant reviewer for Sunday Life magazine in the Sun Herald. She is a regular contributor to the SMH on food and travel.
Kate is a co-author of The Foodies Guide to Sydney 2011 and 2012 and is a contributor to SMH Everyday Eats 2011 and 2012 and Good Cafe Guide 2012. Kate has 10 years' journalism experience and has written for Russh, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Frankie and others. The interest in journalism began at London's The Evening Standard newspaper. Her first cookbook, The Thrifty Kitchen, was published in 2009. Kate's mother Suzanne Gibbs and grandmother Margaret Fulton are also in the food business.
In The Kitchen Inc, Kate writes restaurant, bar and cafe reviews, and shows the most interesting and inspiring places to eat and gastro-explore. Kate reviews new food-relevant design and books, she writes about new trends in cooking, how different ingredients are being used by our top chefs and cooks, and how to use these ideas at home.
Serves 1
