the sandwich that lit up the hinterland

All things considered, there's precious little that hasn't been thrown together in the shape of a sandwich that hasn't worked out well in the end.

A sweet little weekend break in the Hinterland has so much to offer, including pies, great markets and legendary sandwiches. There's so much more to add, but just for now the sandwich gets the credit it deserves though.

This beautiful monster should really have served two people and kept them going for a day, but with a cold beer or two it really only took care of lunch for one in the sunshine. A work of double handed genius in a symphony of pork, egg, fried bits and dough.

A proper work of art that simultaneously appetizes and satisfies.

Rock on the sandwich...
 

gyoza last thing on a Brisbane Sunday night

There’s always a right time to leave the last dumpling on a plate. Any dumpling. No matter how good it is. Some examples of when, quite exactly, one might consider the notion that one has hung around a litle too long could include, but not confined to:

 

1) Your host has to ask you to pay your bill and leave now

2) You’re actually properly tired

3) Eat another gyoza and you'll take someone down with you on the way out

4) You’re properly drunk on great Japanese beer and well on your way to memorably embarrassing yourself and anybody associated with you

5) You’re heading up the last straggle of diners and staying longer would make you seem tragic or desperate

6) Someone slightly more tragic looking than you has just arrived and no possible good can come from you being in the same restaurant with them

7) There’s better gyoza at a new place just opened up down the street

8) Someone really smart kicks the karaoke system into life

9) There is more than one left on the plate

 

all I want is yakitori tonight

I'm absolutely sure there's no-one who has come anywhere close to working out a more beautiful relationship, and I for one, am yet to imagine any possible food that goes better with a really cold beer.

 

 

Any perfectly grilled skewer of bite-sized anything with a bit of a kick and a chilled beer has some beating, and the discovery of a place where these are the only two things on offer is like stumbling upon Nirvana. Truly, when a really popular restaurant has but the one offering, you have to assume they are absolute perfectionist in their field.

 

 

It tends to be the charcoal gives yakitori its unique and irresistible scent and I guess the taste is developed on from the grill through the exact seasoning generally offered. 'Shio' which simply means that it's served with salt, or 'Tare' a salty-sweet sauce, which is basically made from soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. Whatever is on offer, the whole idea of cook to serve without the need to plate up with accompaniments and frills has always appealed in a big way.

 

 

In the event of not being heading to Yurakucho, Shimbashi or Shinjuku tonight, having some of those incredible pickled bamboo shoots with my first beer before the first skewers come off the grill, I now know what I'm having for dinner at home later, whatever happens...

blue marlin, in a bag, on the beach

Cooking something en papillotte means that you encase it in a wrapping of parchment and essentially steam it in its own juices. Just recently, blue marlin caught that morning in the waters off the south coast of Sri Lanka and baked with a piquant combination of Maldivian dried fish, pickled onions, aubergine, burnt lime, tomatoes, black olives, capers and herbs. This recipe can be made with a wide number of fish, as long as the fillets are the same size and thickness; try tilefish, halibut, cod, haddock, salmon, or sea bass.

 

Blue Marlin en papillotte with tomatoes, olives and a bit of Sri Lanka

 

Serves 4

4 (150 gram) marlin fillets (1 inch thick), skinned
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
8 Kalamata or other brine-cured black olives, halved

a small handful of capers

1 medium onion sliced thinly and pickled in the caper brine
1/2 tsp local masala

8 wedges of grilled lime

8 baby aubergines, halved and roasted in olive oil
2 tblsp unsalted butter, cut into bits

8 leaves of basil

 

Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 220°c. Cut four 12-by-15-inch sheets of parchment paper (or foil)

 

Fold each sheet crosswise in half to crease, and then unfold. Season fish with salt, pepper and a pinch of the masala and put 1 fillet to the right of the crease on each sheet. Top each fillet with the diced tomato, one quarter of the capers and olives, one quarter each of butter and the basil

 

Working with one package at a time, fold left half of parchment over fillet. Starting at one corner of crease, fold edge of parchment over in triangles (each fold should overlap previous one), following a semicircular path around fillet, smoothing out folds as you go and tucking last fold under to seal papillotte completely.

 

Heat a large baking sheet in oven for 5 minutes. Put the papillotte on hot baking sheet and bake for 9 minutes.

 

To serve, transfer packets to four plates; with a knife, slit top of each packet and tear it to expose fish (use caution: steam will escape). Slide fish and sauce onto plates and discard paper.
 

the magic of the biryani of the dubai

Honestly, we all know the biryani isn't precisely local here, but really what actually is? This is by no means an ultra traditional number and I'm not here to divide nations and have battle lines drawn up, I just kind of know what I like. I think it would be proper to have it cooked under a pastry crust, which I'm not going to, so there's my first group offended. Here is simply my take on what has long been a downtown Satwa favourite. If you can do anything which might offer some authenticity to your buryani, do marinate the meat overnight as this helps massively to tenderise it

 

A Mutton Biryani

 

Serves 4-6

 

500g mutton, diced into bite-sized pieces

15g Greek or natural yoghurt

1 tblsp freshly grated root ginger, plus a 2cm knob of fresh root ginger, peeled

1 crushed garlic clove, plus 2 cloves, peeled

1 tsp mild chilli powder

1/2 green chilli, seeded and roughly chopped

1 tsp coriander seeds

Pinch of ground turmeric

2 tblsp olive oil

1 small onion, sliced

100ml single cream

Squeeze of lemon juice

Few drops of rosewater

Handful of coriander leaves

 

1 large onion, finely chopped

3 tbsp olive oil

250g basmati rice, rinsed

2 cinnamon sticks

4 star anise

4-5 cardamom pods, lightly crushed

Peel of 1/2 orange and 1/2 lemon

600ml hot lamb or chicken stock

Knob of butter

 

Marinate the mutton in the yoghurt, grated ginger and crushed garlic for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.

 

Place the remaining ginger, garlic, chilli powder, chilli, coriander seeds and turmeric in a food processor and whiz to a fine paste. If necessary, add a little olive oil or water to get the paste moving in the processor.

 

Heat a large heavy-bottomed pan or a cast-iron casserole with a little olive oil. Tip in the onion and cook over a medium heat for 4-5 minutes until softened. Stir in the spice paste and cook for 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Add the mutton and yoghurt to the pan and season well. Stir in the cream and cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid. Cook over a low heat for 11/2-2 hours until the mutton is tender. Stir the mixture occasionally and add a splash of water if the mixture looks too dry.

 

Now start preparing the rice: preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Sauté the onion in the oil in an ovenproof pan for 4-5 minutes until soft. Tip in the rice, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom and peel. Season and stir over a medium-to-high heat for 30 seconds. Add the stock, bring to the boil and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Transfer the pan to the oven for 20 minutes.

 

Remove the rice from the oven and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Mix through a knob of butter and season, fluffing the grains of rice with a fork to separate them.

 

Pile the rice on top of the mutton and sprinkle over the lemon juice and rosewater. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and return to the oven for 10-15 minutes to warm through.

 

Bring the pot to the table to serve. Stir through the coriander leaves and mix the rice and mutton together before piling on to individual plates.

the beetrot curry in Sri Lanka, sort of but not really at all

I can't do it nearly as authentic here as I have tasted there, so I'm not going to bother actually worrying about it. Beetroot in any way shape or form is a treat, so simply dressing it up a little makes for something really quite nice indeed

Roasted pumpkin and beetroot with goat’s cheese

Serves 4

200g pumpkin
100g beetroot
20g goats cheese
1 sprig fresh thyme
20ml olive oil
10ml red wine vinegar
10g rocket
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180c, wash the beetroot and pat dry, rub with a touch of olive oil and put in the oven roast for 30 minutes or until tender. Remove from the oven allow to cool down slightly, then peel and cut into quarters and set aside

Cut the pumpkin in half; remove the seeds and slice into 5mm pieces. Season with salt and pepper and put onto a lightly oiled griddle until golden brown on both sides

Transfer the pumpkin to a baking tray and put into the oven to roast for 8 minutes or so until tender

Mix the red vinegar olive oil, and thyme in a bowl then put the beetroot in to marinate, seasoning with salt and pepper

Place the pumpkin in the centre of the plate then top with the beetroot, sprinkle with grated goats cheese and garnish with rocket; finally drizzle with the remaining vinegar dressing

the spice of sri lanka

 

The place is properly magical, the food all consuming, the people curiously incredible and hypnotic. The island where your watch, quite literally, stands still for a few brilliant moments in time

Sri Lankan fish curry

 

Serves 4

 

900g seer fish fillet, or any firm white fish although salmon will do just fine

1 tblsp sunflower oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

8 fresh curry leaves

½ tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp chilli powder

2 tblsp sri lankan curry powder (see below)

2 medium-sized tomatoes, skinned and chopped

50ml tamarind liquid

400ml coconut milk

Salt

Mango or lime chutney to serve

 

For the Sri Lankan curry powder

2½ tblsp coriander seeds

1 tblsp cumin seed

1½ tsp fennel seeds

A healthy pinch of fenugreek seed

2.5cm piece cinnamon stick

3 cloves

2 green cardamom pods

6 black peppercorns

 

For the curry powder, toast everything over a high heat in a dry pan and then simply grind everything together in a spice grinder into a fine powder. Store in a screw top jar

 

Rinse the fish under cold water and dry on kitchen paper. Heat the oil in a large, shallow pan, add the onion, garlic, curry leaves and fry gently for 7-10 minutes until the onions are soft and only just turning lightly golden

 

Add the turmeric, chilli powder and 2 tblsp of the Sri Lankan curry powder and fry for 1-2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tamarind liquid, coconut milk and 1 tsp of salt and simmer gently for 15 minutes

 

Add the fish to the pan and spoon some of the sauce over the top of the fish. Turn the heat right down and simmer gently for 5 minutes, then cover the pan and set aside for 30 minutes. The fish needs to take in the flavour of the sauce and after 30 minutes should be cooked through - but if not, just return to the heat for a few more minutes until it is. Serve with some steamed basmati rice and some poppadoms should you feel inclined to do so