This recipe should yeild a fairly soft sauce. If it is too thick add more milk, or water. If you think you have some lumps in it there is no reason to start again, pass it through a fine sieve and everything will be all right.

Ingredients
50g butter
1/3 cup plain flour
4 cups milk
½ tsp mustard powder or grated nutmeg

Directions
In a heavy based saucepan, melt the butter until foaming, remove from heat.  Add flour and mustard powder or nutmeg and mix to a smooth paste.  Cook a little but without browning.  Add ½ a cup of the milk and mix with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth. Return to a low – medium heat and continue adding the milk, a little at a time, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens and coats the back of the spoon.

Ingredients

4 potatoes
olive oil
350g boneless white fish fillets
½ C plain flour
2 C breadcrumbs
1 egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 200°c.

Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Clean potatoes, leaving the skin on and cut into wedges. Place into a saucepan of cold water, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until potatoes are just tender. Drain, pat-dry with paper towel and arrange in a single layer on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt flakes.

Place chips on top shelf of oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, turning once until golden.

Cut fish into ‘fingers’. Place flour and breadcrumbs onto separate plates. Break egg into a shallow dish and whisk. Dip each fish finger into flour, egg, then breadcrumbs. Arrange on a baking tray.

Place tray with fish fingers in oven under chips and cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until fish is golden and cooked through.

Serve with a garden salad, wedge of lemon and tartare sauce.

Ingredients

4 potatoes
olive oil
500g chicken tenderloins
½ C plain flour
2 C breadcrumbs
1 egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 200°c.

Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Clean potatoes, leaving the skin on and cut into wedges. Place into a saucepan of cold water, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until potatoes are just tender. Drain, pat-dry with paper towel and arrange in a single layer on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt flakes.

Cut chicken tenderloins into ‘fingers’. Place flour and breadcrumbs onto separate plates. Break egg into a shallow dish and whisk. Dip each chicken finger into flour, egg, and then breadcrumbs.

Place chips on top shelf of oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, turning once until golden.

Heat a little olive oil in a shallow frying pan on medium and cook the chicken fingers for 2-3 minutes a side, until golden and cooked through.

Serve with a garden salad.

Ingredients

2 large skinless chicken breasts
½ C ricotta
2 spring onions, finely sliced
¼ C finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
8 soft flour tortillas, halved
Flesh of 2 avocados, sliced
2 large vine ripened tomatoes, sliced
1 Lebanese cucumber, cut into batons
A handful of baby spinach

Directions

Heat a heavy based frypan on medium and cook the chicken breasts for 6 minutes on each side or until cooked through.

Combine the ricotta, spring onions and parsley, then season with salt and pepper. Spread each tortilla half with ricotta mixture. Slice the grilled chicken and divide among tortilla halves with some avocado, tomato, cucumber and spinach leaves.

Roll each tortilla into a cone shape, tie with cotton and serve.

Ingredients

1 tbsp pine nuts
1 small onion – finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp allspice
½ tsp dried mint 1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground pepper
750g lamb shoulder, minced
Olive oil for grilling
4 rounds pita bread
200ml thick yoghurt
½ tsp sumac fresh coriander leaves for serving
1 lemon, quartered

Directions

Toast the pine nuts in a hot, dry pan until golden, then cool. Whiz the pine nuts, onion, cumin, cinnamon, allspice, mint, salt and pepper in a food processor until smooth.
Add the lamb and whiz until it forms a paste.

Form the paste into sausages and press metal skewers along their length, tamping the meat around the skewer. Alternatively, form the meat into small meatballs.
Brush with a little oil and grill for 6-8 minutes, turning once or twice.

To serve

Lightly grill the pita bread, add a dollop of yoghurt and top with the kofta. Scatter with sumac and coriander leaves and serve with lemon quarters.

Ingredients
2 large knobs ginger – peeled
4 shallots
250ml chicken stock
550ml water
5 button mushrooms – sliced in half
2 star anise
1 tsp black peppercorns
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 tbsp honey
5 drops sesame oil
4 snapper fillets
400g udon noodles – rinsed
1 long red chilli – finely sliced
1 bunch choy sum or baby bok choy – trimmed and washed

Directions
Roughly chop one knob of ginger and place in a saucepan with the green ends of the shallots, chicken stock, water, mushrooms, star anise, pepper, soy, sugar, honey and sesame oil. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes and strain into a clean saucepan.

Place snapper in a steamer. Finely slice remaining ginger and shallots and place on the fish with chilli. Steam until just cooked, about 5 minutes.

Loosen the udon noodles and place in the bottom of four bowls. Steam choy sum for 3-5 minutes or until tender and place on top of noodles. Gently place snapper on top, pour over warm broth.

Variations
Barramundi, John Dory and Nile Perch are great substitutes for the Snapper.

Ingredients

Corn Fritters
525g fresh corn kernels cut from 3 large corn cobs (alternatively use tinned corn kernels)
1 small red onion – chopped
2 eggs
15g coriander leaves – chopped
125g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
sea salt & pepper
vegetable oil for frying

Avocado Salsa
2 ripe avocados – stones removed and diced
Small bunch of coriander leaves
2 Tbs lemon juice or lime juice
2 Tbs spring onions – finely chopped
1 tomato quartered, seeded and finely sliced
1 dash tabasco sauce (optional)
sea salt & pepper

Directions

Corn Fritters
Preheat the oven to 120°C.

Place 2 cups of the corn kernels and the onion, eggs, coriander, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper in a food processor and process until combined. Place in a large bowl, add the remaining corn and stir to combine.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium to high heat. When the oil is hot, drop 2 heaped tablespoons of mixture per sweetcorn cake into the pan and cook in batches of three for 1 minute each side.

Drain on paper towels and keep warm in the oven while you are making the rest of the cakes.

Avocado salsa
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and stir very gently to combine.

Serve with the avocado salsa.

Ingredients
2 Tbs olive oil
1 red onion – finely sliced
3 garlic cloves – finely sliced
2 tsp ginger – freshly grated
2 green chilli’s – seeded and finely chopped
1 tsp sea salt
800g tinned chickpeas – drained
¼ C water
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp turmeric
pepper
1 Tbs lemon juice
250g cherry tomatoes
100g baby spinach leaves

Method
Heat a large deep frying pan over a medium to high heat. Add the oil, onion, garlic, ginger, chilli and salt, cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft.

Add the chickpeas, water, cumin, turmeric and pepper and cook for 5 minutes, or until the water evaporates. Add the tomatoes and cook for another 2 minutes to soften.

Remove from the heat, stir through lemon juice and taste for seasoning. Stir through spinach and serve with warm pita bread.

Ingredients
2 Tbs canola oil or peanut oil
3 garlic cloves – crushed in a mortar and pestle with a small pinch of sea salt
370g cold, cooked jasmine rice
½ small red onion – sliced
1 tomato – cut into wedges
30g snow peas – finely sliced (you can also use broccolini or chinese broccoli)
1 egg – lightly beaten
1 Tbs fish sauce
Small bunch of coriander
½ lebanese cucumber – sliced
1 lime cheek

Directions
Heat a wok or a non-stick frying pan over a high heat until hot. Put the oil in and swirl to coat the base of the pan. Stir fry the garlic for 1 minute, then add the rice and stir for 2 minutes. Add the onion, tomato and green vegetables and stir fry for another minute.

Make a well in the centre of the rice and pour in the egg, lightly scramble for 20 seconds until nearly cooked, then fold through the rest of the rice. Sprinkle with the fish sauce and stir to combine.

Serve with the coriander, cucumber slices and a lime cheek.

Ingredients
750g cauliflower – trimmed, cut into florets
1 brown onion – finely chopped
2 garlic cloves – finely chopped
1 C grated cheddar or tasty cheese
2 cups vegetable stock
1 tablespoon olive oil
water
¼ cup cream

Directions
Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté 5 minutes or until softened. Add cauliflower, stock and enough water to just cover the cauliflower. Cover and bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes or until cauliflower is tender. Take off the heat.

Using a bar mix, blend the soup until smooth. Add the cheese and cream, mix to combine. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Serve with crusty bread.