Food Wine Sleep

Most people can quit obviously recognise a lamb rack or some cutlets, however many people aren't aware that lamb back strap is that exact same meat. It is the "sirloin" of lamb and as in beef this cut has an abundant flavour and I highly recommend it for barbecuing. As with sirloin however, the trick is not to overcook it. In this particular recipe I have taken that extremely flavoursome meat and added another level of flavour by marinating it in homemade Cajun spice. To compliment rather than confuse the strong flavour of the marinated meat, I've served it with a relatively simple and refreshing salad. This particular dish serves quite respectably with either a...

Ox cheek, I can see you scrunching up your nose in disgust as you read that, but trust me once you've tried it you'll be wondering why you haven't been eating it all along and why you can't get it everywhere. Or maybe you are already familiar with ox cheeks and are here to get another recipe for this fabulous ingredient. This recipe, as most great classic dishes, was probably created out of sheer economic necessity. Necessity of peasants who could not afford to be wasteful with any part of the animal and had to ensure that everything went to some sort of use. With these humble beginnings, I find it rather interesting to note that dishes like this are now only found on...

One of my favourite things about the calendar flipping into autumn is pumpkin soup. I know what you're thinking, why wait until autumn? You can buy pumpkin year round now. True yes, but in my mind it still tastes better when you know you are cooking with ingredients that were grown locally, are in season and haven't been stuck in some crate in stagnant air for weeks on end in the hull of some dirty old ship or the trailer of some truck. Plus the seasons are nature's way of getting us to eat a variety of foods, and Mother Nature is a lot older than us, so I imagine she knows best.

Most likely originally developed to use up stale bread, this salad is a hearty alternative to most other and unfortunately all too often unsatisfying salads. Serve it with a nice grilled fish, or marinated chicken and you have a complete and also very healthy meal.

This dish is on the top of my list for summer entertaining dishes. It sits there proudly for a couple of reasons, firstly, it's always a crowd pleaser and secondly, most of the work is done the day before! Unlike many dishes that deteriorate from being prepped too early, this recipe benefits from it. The beans need to be soaked for at least 24 hours and the herbs will permeate the chicken better if marinated longer rather than shorter. In addition doing all the work so far in advance will once again leave you more time to entertain and enjoy the summer weather for yourself. Bon apatite.

When it comes to organic food, I don't think I would be able to tell you the difference between an organic piece of parsley and a non-organic piece of parsley. However when it comes to chicken the difference is night and day. Organic chickens are more tender, the skin crisps better and the flesh tastes 100% like chicken. Non organic chickens are fed copious amounts of antibiotic growth promoters and the end result is unnaturally large birds with bland tasteless meat. Organic birds, even though usually twice as old when slaughtered are often still smaller than these unnaturally oversized counterparts. Having to feed and house the animals twice as long obviously adds a...

This is not so much a recipe as a guideline, as every time I make it, it is slightly different depending on what's in the fridge. The quantities however stay the same but allow your imagination to run when making this soup. I know that personally I enjoy the different flavours every time I make it.

This is a great winter soup. At a time of year when we are probably eating a little bit too much of the good stuff in life such as butter, cream and rich desserts, this soup is the perfect option to lighten our dietary load. You'll find that thanks to the sweet potato's much lower glycaemic rating than regular potato you won't find the inevitable post eating blood sugar spike and subsequent crash of many energy rich winter meals. Add to that ginger's excellent properties as a digestive aid and you have a great start on helping your body deal with a lot of those richer meals you've been eating. Then take the ultimate comfort spice; cinnamon and your soul will also thank yo...

This dish builds on a recipe my friend Damian gave to me a couple of years back. I was working with him on a function for the annual Melbourne Cup horse race. We had had some problems with suppliers not delivering on time and as such were behind the eight ball with our prep all morning. It was now 12 noon and I recall nervously saying to Damo, "Here come the customers and we haven't even got half the prep done, I've still got to cook the cous cous, I haven't even got the chicken kievs let alone stuff them." Damian calmly replied "Pass me that orange juice. I'll make the cous cous and you run across the road to the Thai restaurant and tell them you'll buy so...