polly

You can wrap shelled prawns (head still on) with kataifi and bake them. Good with preserved lemon. You could probably wrap any morsels of meat that you liked..bit of a spice paste on them, some yoghurt sauce to eat them with..yum. Or, wrap figs with prosciutto and then with kataifi, bake and serve hot from the oven with a melting blob of marscapone on top (greg malouf ).

Sandwich an anchovy fillet between two large sage leaves, dip into a light batter and deep fry. This makes a lovely nibble with drinks, or part of an antipasti.

Raw artichoke salad is also fabulous with flat leaf parsley and a few shavings of parmesan. I remember what a revelation raw artichoke was when I was first shown this dish. My chef at the time used the base of the leaves (the bit that is still tender) and shredded them finely. It's a great way to make the most of an artichoke.

You could... Marinate fetta in oil, oregano, garlic and chilli stuff it inside a rolled leg of lamb sprinkle it through a greekish salad Make a pesto with it and drizzle over grilled sardines toss it through spaghetti with squished cherry tomatoes, evoo and a little grana Take a ribbon-tied bunch to every friend you visit

From my limited comparisons, Thai fish sauce is nicer. More refined and less sweet. I've probably been influenced by thai cooking teachers though... I'm married to squid brand.

Home made mini rhubarb muffins from Stephanie Alexanders 'cook's companion'. And munching on left over spicy quail from last night..

WOW, Thank you all for your searches and information. I too, found other recipes that featured carrot with the name jacqueline, and I'm beggining to think the chef may have made the sauce up and named it b/c of the base ingredient. Andy, I'll track down that recipe you mentioned, it sounds good. Thanks again for the input, I'll tell you if I come up with a good replica of the sauce. Polly

I have been trying to track down a recipe that a chef I used to work for made, called sauce Jacqueline. It was based on a reduction of fish stock and cream, and flavoured with carrots (and very small amounts of ginger and corianded seed). It was pale orange and incredibly delicious. I have found many references to it on google, but they are all on restaurant menus, with no recipes. Is anyone able to help me out?

I am a chef and I smoke (already feels like a 12 step meeting...) I know from years of tasting food (both before and after the habit) what I think stuff tastes like. I compare flavour perceptions with other chefs, and lots of people, both chefs and non, eat my food and I get feedback. Because of all of this eating, talking , tasting and comparison I feel confident that even though my taste may be duller than a non smoker, it's not so seriously out of whack that I can't make an informed decision about flavour. I also make a concerted effort to taste 'thoroughly'. To be aware of subtle and faintly lingering flavours, instead of seasoning only in response to the first hit of salt in your mouth.

Hello , all is well in Australia, just very busy. Nice to be back...

Just have to second the recommendation of Richard Thomas. He is an aquaintance from both family and restaurant circles, and is a very cool, interesting, knowlegable person and an amazing cheesemaker.

Shannon Bennett is recieved pretty well in Melbourne. As with any young person who sticks their neck out, he recieves a bit of flack within the industry, but only the sort of piss-taking that is basically meaningless. He opened Vue de Monde at a time when the media were all about casual, rustic eating places, and his restaurant is 'try and top this, complex, french fine dining'. That he opened a restaurant at a time when people were saying that fine dining was dead in Melb., and when he was so young and seems so enthusiastic about what he does, makes me like him. I hear a lot of gossip about him, but I admire his chutzbah ( sp?).

Are these the same rice flakes that you sometimes see coloured pink and green?

Well, this sauce sounds like it contains some of my favourite flavours. Any more details or amounts for those of us who have never had it?

I was reading all these posts and agreeing with most of the cravings when I realised that I went to the shop to get the news paper just before and came home with corn chips, chocolate bars and trashy magazines! And I'm drinking red wine! I'm two days off...The horniness is next...

When my grandmother was pregnant she sent granpa out to find pieces of fresh tar from the road that she would suck on. My sister in law had a real thing for earth. She didn't eat it, but she loved the smell of it and wanted to be near earth and to touch it. You had to drag her away from building sites!

Roughly 215 cookbooks in my home.

I worked with a dishwasher dude who threw away quite a few litres of veal glace b/c he thought it was crap at the bottom of the stock.

Yum! i'm thinking some bacon and maple syrup with that as well. I think I may have to bake a cake after reading all these yummy posts...

Just a guess but, Shroom??

I think , britcook, that you're pretty much 'on the money'. I have a Kurdish friend (was born in Iraq, then had to flee to Iran), who refers to all of 'his' food as Persian.

Ditto suzanne's post about amounts. Basically though, more nuts and sesame than coriander and more coriander than cumin. does that make sense?

S.Plotnicki is right about Dukkah being popular in Australia. We have many wonderful middle eastern chefs and there has been a bit of a middle eastern/north african food revival going on for a while. This is my method for Dukkah, amounts are up to you: Toast seperately: hazelnuts sesame seeds coriander seeds cumin seeds Add: salt a little dried thyme Whizz all this in a food processor until it has a finer texture (but you still want recognisable pieces of all he ingredients in it) . I usually use it to dip bread into or to sprinkle over strips of calamari before frying or on top of bread or in a crust or on roast eggplant with tahini sauce ...

That's a good potato site. It's interesting to look at the American varieties and work out which ones are the same as Australian ones but with different names. In the U.S. do they sell Desiree, Patrone, Kipfler, or Toolanghi Delight varieties? Thanks, Suvir, for your message. Right back at ya..

I say mix the two techniques and you've got yourself covered. Red cooked pork belly was the first preparation of P.B. that I ever had, and my love for it led me to try other , more French and Italian flavoured preparations. Pork Belly is a truely wonderful cut of meat