Boquerones are Spanish styled marinated white anchovy fillets which are a lot less pungent than regular anchovy with a citrus, vinegared taste. Serve on a fresh red endive leaf, with half a grape tomato, baby basil, and a paper thin slice of garlic and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Season with sea salt and black pepper.

Fresh prociutto san daniele with figs – my absolute favorite

I recently got foxtel (cable tv), and even with 200 extra channels, I am still only totalling about 2 hours of TV a week, and that’s me forcing myself to watch tv… because I’m paying for it! I do however, really like the background music in the digital TV guide channel. I know, I’m insane.

2 (700gm) T-bone steak
2 sprigs of rosemary
extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
Cherry Tomatoes, halved
2 cloves of garlic
½ bunch of baby rocket (arugola)
2 large swiss brown mushrooms
White wine – splash
1 slice anchovy fillet

Trim away excess fat from T bone. Season both sides of steak generously with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle over olive oil, cover with plastic wrap on both sides, place on chopping board, and beat the crap out of it. Yes ladies and gents, let all that work stress out. You can either use a mallet or a roller pin. I have neither, so I used a mortar. Beat evenly until it is about 1.5cm thick.

Heat pan with olive oil, and add one clove of garlic and one sprig of rosemary. Slightly tilt your pan so that the garlic clove and the rosemary is submerged in oil and wait for it to heat up and bubble. This will flavour the oil.

Add steak to pan, and sear on very high heat around 1-2 minute on each side. Set aside to rest. Repeat with the other steak, using a new clove of garlic and a new sprig of rosemary. I ike to rest my meat on a metal plate placed near the stove, so that it keeps warm.

Using remaining pan juices, add some butter and add the mushrooms. Drizzle the top with extra olive oil, a splash of white wine, and cover for a few minutes under medium heat.

Mix rocket leaves with cherry tomatos (I chose the yellow ones)

Plate beef, topped with rocket and tomatoes, and add the cooked mushrooms to the side.

Add one slice of anchovy into the remaining pan juices and drizzle with more olive oil. Add another splash of wine ans deglaze. Pour on top of steak.

Perfectly pink, tender and super juicy. But feel free to serve it well done if you like your meat destroyed!

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

Warm Salad of Asparagus, Oyster mushrooms with ‘Zucchini chips’

Ingredients:
Baby roma tomatos: half lightly grilled in oven, other half thinly sliced, for a combination of sweetness and texture
Young asparagus (fresh from the grower’s markets) cooked with olive oil and and a drizzle of aged balsamic
Oyster mushrooms, shredded, wok tossed in rice bran oil, mirin and seasame oil
Zucchini ‘chips’: lay flat on baking paper, rubbed with sea salt and brush with extra virgin olive oil. Grill in fan forced oven for 5 minutes and allow to rest until crispy
2 organic eggs, over easy with a liquid yolk.
Carrot – Julienned
Baby salad leaves with Japanese wafu goma dressing.

Oyster mushrooms can be replaced with Chicken
The crispy zucchini chips really added to the charm of the texture. The soft running yolk complemented the asparagus (shame I didn’t have any truffles). The oven grilled tomatos exploded with juice upon bite while the raw tomatos were cool and fresh against the salad leaves. Oyster mushrooms are a great alternative for vegetarians as its texture is a quite similar to meat… in a ’stringy’ nature.

Voila, Lunch!
Our checklist: low carb, low calorie, wheat free, gluten free, diary free, vegetarian – most of all, edible AND enjoyable!

Perhaps I will do a variation on the raw food diet along with a low carb intake. Now the challenge is for this to taste good!

today’s lunch: Baby cos lettuce, tuna, raw mushrooms, cucumber, tomato, handful of corn kernels, olives with balsamic vinegrette

Other ideas I’m currently thinking of:

Seared peppered tuna on a bed of wakame salad, ponzu dressing
Sashimi, sashimi, sashimi ($$$$$)
Vegetable sticks with organic hummus, paprika
Soft poached egg, asparagus, truffle oil, black pepper
Salmon carparccio, lemon oil, baby capers
Crab meat, mango and julienned cucumber salad
Edamame with sea salt and shichimi (Japanese 7 spice)
Shaved Turkey breast with… ???
Baby rucola, nashi and walnut salad with EVO and balsamic
Lightly grilled Shrimp with fresh tomato and basil salsa
Cold Tofu with paperthin daikon radish, soy and miso dressing
Sydney Rock Oysters with champagne vinegar

Borrrrring… but totally doable! What else tastes great with hardly any calories? It’s time to really discover the world of spices.

currently questionable foods:
Haloumi