I had just been testing out a new digital camera I got for Christmas – and obviously I didn’t really know how to use it at the time, so I apologise for the quality of the below photos.
The atmosphere at Bannister’s was romantic, with sweeping ocean views during sunset. With exceptional service from staff that love being in hospitality, this is considered one of the best restaurants in Mollymook

Cured ocean trout

carpaccio of angus beef with fig, beets and chive creme

Special of the day: Roast duck with shaved black truffles

Pan fried barramundi fillet with pea puree, zucchinni flower and “lemon air”

Side of tomato bocconcini and basil salad

Dessert – sorry but I honestly cannot remember what this was – but you cannot go wrong with chocolate!

Petit fours

And the view we wake up to from the spa retreat balcony – absolute bliss!

I always thought I was crazy for chefs (being a bit of a chef groupie), that was, until I went to Gordon’s show. My lord are the middle aged ladies crazy for the guy! Gordon fits extremely well in a live audience setting. His crude and offending humour on other chefs like Matt Moran “he’s lost a hat and he’s got no hair” or Jamie Oliver whom he conveniently calls a “twat” proves to be an entertaining show.

He demonstrates with ease three dishes we can replicate at home: Butter bean and chorizo soup, Pan fried lamb with green bean and parmesean salad and for dessert, a Pain Perdue with ricotta and raspberries. Many prizes were given away, almost like the set of an Oprah show, except it’s a lot less generous.

His main cooking tips were:
- Always cook the meat when it is at room temperature
- Seal the sides of your meat properly by tilting your pan and letting the oil cook the edges in a ‘puddle’
- Never slice meat straight after cooking, always rest it for at least five minutes
- Add leftover meat to your soup (such as shredded chicken) and place in the fridge overnight to give it better flavour the next day

This was adapted from Gordon Ramsey’s recipe – Black Cod with garlic potato puree

Menu: Pan Fried Swordfish steak on garlic mash, buttered mushrooms, clams in white wine cream

Gordon’s trick to perfect garlic mash:

Boil 3 desiree potatos (peeled and cubed)

While potatoes are boiling, blanch 5 cloves of garlic for one minute, then rinse under cold water. Blanch again for one minute, rinse under cold water again – do this 3 times.

Drain water, return potatoes to pot, and start mashing .

Peel skin off garlic cloves and mash in with potatoes throughly.

Add in 1 cup of milk, and whisk.

Heat up mash slightly on the stove, then add 50g of butter.

Whisk in 4 tablespoons of double cream and turn off heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately while warm

I think the trick is to remove most of the blood from the ribs - I soaked the ribs in water for a few hours, then pre-boiled it twice to remove all impurities, so that the broth runs clear. I did the same to the white radish, which was actually a tip from my mother used for Chinese cooking – always pre boil white radish twice before cooking (if you have time) to release the excess moisture, and allowing it to readily absorb more flavours later.

So 1 kilo of beef ribs, cut in 5cm cubes, one whole garlic (yikes!) and salt to taste, bring to the boil in a pot and then simmer for 2 hours. Add the radishes and Korean soup mix (I bought it at the store, because the box had a picture of the dish I was trying to make). The meat gently fell off the bone (but it wasn’t mushy), and the radishes were perfect. Serve garnished with chopped green onions. It was a variation of Dorothy’s recipe – without it, I’d be clueless. Thank you!

My 2nd dish to attempt was the Pajeon. Very easy to prepare, except that I would add a few more tablespoons full of rice flour to the recipe to give it a bit more texture. I bought fresh Australian seafood (clams, squid, scallops) which made the flavours very fragrant against the pan fried green onions. And then the third and final dish, Gamja jorim (Potato in sweet soy) Talk about high fat, High sugar, High calorie, High carb…

Scale, debone and Skin Salmon

Marinade fillet with 1 tbsp Tamari, 1 tbsp Fish sauce, dash of mirin, dash of yuzu in a bag, and refridgerate for 30 mins

Pan fry fillet for 2 minutes on each side

Immediately wrap fillet inside a foil “boat” and let it sit – so it slow cooks itself with the existing heat

Pan fry salmon skin, and throw inside oven with the grill on for a few more minutes

I served it with a side of carrot and zucchini ribbons (lightly blanched, dressed with sea salt, pepper and olive oil) and topped with thin strips of crispy salmon skin. I pan fried the rest of the zucchini (it was just leftovers from “ribbon making” that I didn’t want to waste).
The result? Really amazing, moist, medium rare flesh better than poached salmon, and topped with the crispy skin that we love so much from fried salmon. Thanks Woo Weeee

There are very detailed instructions here, if you are game. It is going to be a while until I would want to do this again. Prep time is around 4 hours (minus the soaking from the night before), plus one hour cooking time, and an additonal 4 hours for it to set.

Ingredients:
6 ounces Chinese bacon (lop yok), store bought or homemade
1 large Chinese white turnip, about 2 pounds
8 Chinese dried mushrooms
1/2 cup Chinese dried shrimp, about 1 1/4 ounces
2 teaspoons Shao Hsing rice cooking wine
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups rice flour

I will update you tomorrow on how the finished product turned out. This is to be sliced, and served panfried. I think I accidentally used too much rice flour…

Here is my finished product:

Individually gift-boxed (to give out to families), but served pan fried, with XO sauce on the side.

I got smart and added more rice flour than illustrated in the recipe because I originally thought the mixture was too watery. Bad move! Mine was a little firmer than usual – but the flavour was still very good. I’m thinking about re-making it again, but this time only making a very small individual portion, just to see if that works…