Salmon, basil emulsion, tomatoes

The left over basil emulsion from the previous night served very simply as an entree of salmon, peeled but raw cherry tomatoes.  Simplicity at it's best.

Scallop ravioli, pan roasted scallops, basil emulsion and roasted tomato jus.

My husband who never cooks knocked up this with no recipe.  Made the pasta,  roasted tomatoes till black, blitzed and passed through a fine cloth, used the roasted pulp in the ravioli cases with scallops, dressed the plate with the roasted tomato jus, made a basil emulsion by blanching and shocking basil, blitzing with oil, a touch of lemon juice, garlic and salt and pan cooked some scallops.  This was DIVINE.  He's a clever chap!

Toasted nori and sesame seed, miso marinated roasted snapper, wasabi and ginger

This is really just play time for me because I rarely cook Japanese but enjoy the flavours.  I've got to say however it turned out beautifully.  I marinated some gorgeous snapper in miso and mirin, cooked a tiny bit of black rice and added sushi vinegar and ponzu, mixed some wasabi mayo with wasabi powder for an extra kick, a touch of sesame oil and toasted nori, ground it down and added the powder to black and white toasted sesame seed.

I was impressed and I cooked it.  That says it all really.

Middle Eastern salad of pear, cardamom, mint and purple basil

I've made this dressing based on one from Greg Malouf's cookbook loads of times now.  It's great with duck too.  Simply warmed honey with crushed cardamon, a little orange blossom water, salt and black pepper, a dash of dry sherry.  It's a beautiful dressing/sauce/whatever and goes really well when pears are added to the mix and cooked until just soft.  Serve at room temperature.  Mint, basil (purple in this case), toasted pistachios or walnuts and labnah or thick greek yoghurt.  A light delicious and elegant starter.

Lamb with Greek flavours

This dish was a knockout.  The backstrap of lamb was covered in ground allspice, fennel seed and coriander seed (all roughly ground in the pestle and mortar), rubbed in oil, salt and black pepper.  Seared a couple of minutes each side, rested for at least 6 minutes.

I made a simple salad of peeled cherry tomatoes, with a dressing of dried mint, olive oil, oregano, a touch of lemon juice and sugar to balance.  I warmed the tomatoes up in the dressing with a few olives to make a warm vinaigrette and served this with a thick yoghurt mixed with garlic, salt and fresh mint.

A sort of elegant greek salad with lamb.  This tasted more than the sum of it's parts.

Salmon, caramalised onion, hung yoghurt

The combination of salmon with sweet caramelised onion and salty something in this case hung thick yoghurt like a yoghurt cheese is wickedly delicious.  While not being the prettiest plate of food ever presented this tasted gorgeous, easy to prepare and just works somehow.  I served it with broad beans, peas, roasted leeks and purple basil.

Salmon with sauce vierge, caviar and tomatoes.

Speaks for itself.....