Cooking In Maesot

This is Mo Mo she is a karen refugee who now lives in New Zealand, sometime ago when I was staying in Maesot in Nth Thailand on the border of Burma the ladies at the Borderline Cafe and Art Gallery found out I was a 'cooking artist' !. They put on a delicious traditional burmese lunch for me it was so special and Mo Mo is a great cook and a beautiful lady dedicated to burmese home-cooking with love for her friends, family and community. Special thanks to Bec for sending me there.

My kitchen

My kitchen has a small prep area but we have made it cosy, there is lots of natural light for taking photographs and a big window which looks out to a glorious green backyard and veggie garden. At times it can be challenging to work in, and friends are surprised when they drop by my kitchen, but the smells and warmth make it worthwhile and hey I'm a personal chef so can work in any old kitchen.

5 thing's to help make you a fantastic home cook.

1. good cook's knife
2. medium saucepan
3. grater
4. salad spinner
5. 3 wooden spoons

Simple Ingredients part two the meal.

The finished simple ingredients.

Ten minutes is all it took for this yummy lunch

Simple Ingredients

Saturday lunch before work.


Bunch asparagus (currently in season and great deals around, I got 3 bunches for $10)

Angus beef scotch fillet (grass fed, so delicious - look at that fat marbling)

Mushrooms

Worcestershire sauce

Cream

Clarified butter

Sea salt and pepper


Ok so this is how I like to cook, 3-4 simple ingredients, let the food speak for itself.

Take fry pan and put in a tablespoon clarified butter.

Saute mushrooms for 3 minutes

Add scotch fillet 2 minutes each side (should be blood)

Pour in 3-4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce and some cream

Season with salt and pepper

Blanch asparagus 30 seconds.

Serve on a white plate, make it look beautiful.

Who would believe I was a vegetarian for ten years! this is what happens when you have butchers in your family, you go back to your roots.

Please use only excellent quality meat, make friends with your local butcher, try unusual cuts. Don't buy your meat from Woolworths or Coles, buy it fresh if preferable just killed and carved.

Check out Grassroots Butcher if your on the Eastside of Sydney (Vaucluse)

First harvested lettuce from my garden

I have been patiently tending to my little garden for 8 weeks chasing away snails with organic coffee granules, beer and finally eggshells, none seemed to work so I just let the snails cohabit with my garden although they chewed all my kale!
Finally it's harvesting some beautiful lettuce, basil and soon broccoli.

Last weeks big waves in sydney photo courtesy of steve from light play photography

www.lightplay.com.au

Rainbow chard

Fresh from the markets I turned this rainbow chard into a black bean Jamaican potato curry it is so beautiful with the different coloured stems that it was a sad experience to cut it hence this photo to demonstrate its gorgeous stems

Beautiful palm cove; a chef's gotta take a holiday sometime

Have been eating out in restaurants the last 4 day' over the Anzac long weekend, visiting crocodile farms, lingering in rainforests and eating fresh organic papaya, ah and chilling out in a hammock on the beach.

Green chillies

Fiji Markets Nov 2009

The organic cook eats too.

Eggplant, pomegrante salad, photo courtesy of ray

Highlight from Moroccan Cooking Program. Yum, thanks for food photography Ray.