The Parisian Cooking Files: Artichoke Ravioli

We spotted a great pasta stall outside an Italian deli in Paris selling some great looking handmade pasta. We couldn't resist these artichoke ravioli! Simply served with some melted butter and parmasen with some rochfort crumbled on top with parsely and drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Very rich but very tasty!

Steak Parisian Style

We spent a month in Europe in November, 2010 and the final stage of our trip was 10 days in an apartment in the Latin Quarter in Paris. We couldn't wait to cook up a storm with so many amazing markets on our doorstep. A short walk from our house was a great strip of shops, filled with great butchers, fish shops, cheese shops and don't get me started on the boulangeries.

Craving something simple with not much fuss after our train ride from Belgium, we cooked up simple beef fillet. While in Paris, mixed some butter with parsely and thyme and some chopped cornichons to dollop on top of the steak before serving. Served simply with some grilled fennel and tomatoes.

Berlin Burger

This was an amazing burger we had while on Holiday in Berlin. My sister Caroline had heard about this burger place under a train track, which used to be a public toilet block. Doesn't sound very appetising!

But we just stumbled upon it by accident, when we were strolling around Kruezberg in Berlin. Smelt the grilled meat in the air and then spotted a line. Kind of the Harry's Cafe de Wheels of Berlin! This photo gets me hungry every time.

Roasted Scallops with Prawn & Apple Salad

These dishes look fancy, but they are so easy and take hardly any cooking and prep at all. The less you do to fresh seafood the better.

Some fresh scallops simply roasted (180 degree oven) with salt and pepper for about 10 minutes tops. I made a simple basil salsa, blitzed with olive oil, lemon and salt to dollop on top after they scallops came out of the oven. Served with a simple salad of freshly peeled tiger prawns salad, with pink lady apples, cucumber and parsley - dresses simply with lemon juice and olive oil.

A great starter...and the scallops were so delicious!

First Harvest!

Our very first harvest of potatoes. Very exciting to dig these little fella's up out of the dirt after a few months of growing!


After leaving them for a few weeks we roasted these up one night and they were delicious! Nothing better than cooking up some veg from our own backyard!

Brithday Pancakes

There was a tradition growing up, that on the first day back at school, my mum would cook pancakes! Now it seems like on special occasions - a pancake breakfast is in order.


These beauties were cooked up on Hannah's birthday. Yogurt replaces buttermilk in a standard pancake batter recipe...and these are a great! Served here with a figgy compote like concoction. Dried figs warmed in a pan with some water and cinnamon. Banana's and maple syrup are a must!

The Best Pork Crackling!

It has been a mission of mine for a few years (along with perfecting my bolognese) to achieve the best pork crackling ever!

I have struggled to achieve good crunchy crackling after many pork roasts and reading plenty of tips of best crackling. And on a recent trip to Yonderfield farm I think I cracked it! (pun intended)

As much as most recipes say the key is a hot oven and salting, which I have tried to mixed results, the real key is good pork! and ensuring the rind is very dry. Salting and lining with paper towel overnight is good if you can. So armed with a free range (deboned) pork shoulder from Craig Cook meats in Marrickville and a specially purchased stanley knife to make deep incisions into the rind, I salted and slept the pork over night in the fridge, then it came along for the road trip to Broke.

Then, perhaps this was part of the magic, the pork was roasted in a good ol' woodfired stove oven! I added extra seasoning of fennel seed and lemon rind too. It didn't even hit the a seriously high temp, but this little piggy crackled up good...and the flavour of the roast was delicious too..but this was all about the crackling...which stole the show!