The view was sensational, the restaurant one of Sydney’s acclaimed and the chef a master craftsman when it comes to all things food. And here I was, a home cook at best trying out a dish I had only ever cooked once before for my wife and hoping that I wouldn’t stuff it up. I looked over at the chef as I delicately folded the crabmeat within the fresh piece of yellow fin tuna. There was a look in his eye and a smile on his face but I wasn’t sure if it was the look someone gives a child who is trying their best even though they had it all wrong or if it was because he was impressed. Thankfully it was the latter! Yes, I cooked for and impressed Robert Marchetti a leading Two Hatted chef and restaurateur, I was happy and relieved. The restaurant was Icebergs in the world-renowned suburb of Bondi. New South Wales has an abundance of wonderful fresh produce and it also has an array of absolutely terrific restaurants and chefs who very generously allowed me into their kitchens and quite patiently let me cook for them. I made turkey and wild rice stuffed sweet peppers with a tomato, chocolate and chilli sauce for a chef in Byron Bay — he said they were ‘surprisingly good’ — that’s a compliment isn’t it? I cooked a snail and yabbie pie for a French chef in the Hunter Valley — he offered me a job. I invited all the producers from one area to lunch and cooked their produce for them — a very nerve-racking experience — but very rewarding when they all loved the way I used their products.
I could go on about the quality of the produce, the fabulous oranges that Betty grows, the goats that Norma and Colin love and hate to part with, the beer Luke and Keith make, the fresh plump snails Robert and Helen are so fond of, the amazing organic spatchcock that Ray and Kerry lovingly raise, the avocados Robyn and Henry produce, Helmut’s weird and wonderful exotic fruits, Matthew’s Sunforest free-range turkeys, Brent and Jennifer’s traditional sourdough, Lyle and Karen’s honey, Barefoot Buck’s native finger limes…to name just a few.
Let’s face it, the quality and variety of produce in New South Wales is amazing, as are the people that take that produce and with passion, care and commitment and make it into something so mouth-wateringly tempting that you have to buy it and eat it. Carol’s laksa recipe is a great example of this, as are Kaz’s smallgoods and the custard tarts that Fernando has been making for 35 years — sadly they are not in this book as it is a treasured family recipe!
List of Recipes