blue eyes

It took a long time for me to find and purchase this blue eye trevalla, first introduced to our palates, and then often enjoyed, in our favourite spot on Darlinghurst road. Also known as Antarctic butterfish or bluenose sea bass, the "Hyperoglyphe antarctica" was a must in our kitchen, and this new comer happened to display 2,35 kilograms of goodness.

Roasted vegetables were going to fill up the rest of our stomachs: red, green and yellow capsicum, carrots, potatoes, garlic and our beloved beetroot.

Cutting the fish wasn't an easy task. The bones were located in the right spot for my knife to go through, or viceversa, so at the end it didn't take as long as I was anticipating.

We had a bottle of Nick Farr's 2009 chardonnay, which we enjoyed all the way. I was expecting a big departure from his dud's own, but I guess the pupil has learnt very fast.

I also made a sauce with Spanish extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, shallots, coriander, balsamic vinegar a few tiny pieces of ginger, which provided a very strong freshness element to the pan fried swimmer.

For dessert I totally relied, once more, on the Kakawa masters of chocolate. This time it was their third generation beetroot & balsamic rocket road marshmallow. At this point of development I believe there is no need for them to bother with a fourth generation. This one has reached an unquestionable level of perfection.

graciously fishfaced

After last night's little banquet at Stephen Hodge's fun outlet, I think we basically decided his is our favourite hang out in town. It's hard to understand how he seems to be the only cook we know, who has an incredible awareness regarding the virtues of fresh fish and not complex cooking.

Lynn decided to explore unknown territories and she started with an unusual first, which happened to be a quite illuminating one: shrimp ravioli. The sauce, specifically, was worth every single millilitre. Mr. Hodges dropped by our table to offer some bread, which culminated this initial phase of our magnificent dinner.

Bonito sashimi with seaweed flakes and violet baby flowers was my own starting point. I completely enjoyed it, but it was hard to get more excited after that colossal shrimp sauce.

A 2009 Leirana, barrica, which I brought on my last trip from Galicia in October, was a glorious wine for such a delightful masticating session.

Crispy skin bar cod with leek puree, roasted tomatoes and garlic was one of the specials of the day, which fuelled our unstoppable gastroblast.

It looks like we have become sort of addicted to the brilliantly prepared potatoe chips: right flavour, right cooking degree, right texture...

I got another special of the day: seared blue fin tuna with fermented garlic mayo and watercress.

For dessert we had for the first time the house banana souffle with vanilla ice cream and passion fruit. No discussion about being our best possible choice.

"puntillitas" y "gambitas"

For some reason seafood seems to make life easier. Perhaps it's the cold blood component, which doesn't bring all the bloody drama usually associated to most  mammals.

And seafood with a good wine make life feel like heaven, at least for a couple of hours.

This was our first 2009 Principia chardonnay, and I must say it equally transmits the good vibrations we enjoyed from the 2008 vintage.

It's not always that I can find baby squid (puntilla) in the fish market, so when available it instantly becomes part of the menu. The same case applies to school prawns (gambitas), if fresh, of course.

This is what I call a very delicious and nutritious approach to the seafood cultural experience, ideal to be revisited as often as possible.

ugly john

A relatively new fish for me happens to be a quite photogenic swimmer, perhaps the punkiest one I've ever enjoyed...

We could say it's ugly, but I actually found it kind of "pretty": cool hair (spines in this case) and interesting tattoo (natural feature). In any case it's certainly a very tasteful fish.

Quite a character to enjoy at home, especially under such fast and easy way of cooking it: simply grilled.

A few asparagus and baked potatoe chips were the only addition to this surprising menu. Our new blind date with a kiwi pinot gris was not of any relevance for our palates, unfortunately.

claming around

During a few days Lynn had been talking about clams, so it felt like this sunny day could be a good one to look for them.

Following a proper and invigorating swim in the Bronte rock pool, I headed to the fish market in Pyrmont, where a quite handsome pelican was about to have brunch while I was parking.

The clams looked very good and very alive, both the Vongole and the Tasmanian sandless Vongole, this second one with a darker greyish shell.

Master Lynn cooked them to perfection, adding a light sauce with onion, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and continental parsley.

The pasta making the base of our plates got a new dimension, as a consequence of this pertinent marriage; I'd say it was a rather killer match.

It ended up being a fun dinner, even for someone who never was a big fan of either clams or boring pasta, like myself. The wine choice was a completely blind date, which for some unclear reason I leaned to while in the bottle shop. 

A 2006 Clyde Park chardonnay from Bannockburn (Victoria) didn't really made it for me. However, that same town is home for two other wineries we very much respect, "By Farr" and "Bannockburn", both producing very nice chardonnays and pinot noirs, among other varietals.

Looking so insignificant from the outside, the clam happens to be quite an interesting creature, hiding really powerful tones inside its "mobile" home.

the egg

The most delicious egg on toast I've ever had was the centre of my breakfast a few days ago. Lynn was the master mind behind such level of perfection. Runny, tasty and under exactly the right and moderate amount of salt and black pepper. I can't think of any other moment when I got excited by a simple egg.

The choice of the right bread for the toast holding this mind blowing egg was fundamental. No other than the rye caraway sourdough from Bourke St became the foundation of this remarkable outcome. Lynn deserved an award just for such an extraordinary execution. The impact was so strong, that the view of the SOH almost appeared as an amalgamation of pointy eggs by the harbour.

The rest of our breakfast was brilliant, but somehow shadowed by this stellar  impression. A really historic moment in my appreciation for eggs.

hawkesbury calamari & meringue

Back in the fish market is always fun, but last week was more than I was expecting. It wasn't too busy and there was tempting material to pick from.

A portion of the generous hapuka I recently bought was still around to prepare a  new tapa, which got a beautiful colour because of the always versatile beetroot.

Our chardonnay of the day was a quite extraordinary and mineral 2010 Bindi Quartz, which I got from Michael the day I visited his winery, perfectly escorted by majestic and relaxed kangaroos.

This way of cooking loligo squid was another strange experiment I was looking for. A compilation of contrasts ended up providing a satisfactory dinner.

The Kakawa duo made a very smooth chocolate chip and amaretto meringue,  centre of a moderately sweet dessert plate with spring strawberries.