The Ultimate Kilpatrick Recipe...

I have always had a passion for seafood. Of all the different ways to serve oysters from fresh in the shell, deep fried in a lovely crisp tempura batter or a tornado with tomato juice, tobasco and a healthy shot of vodka, the list is endless but an old favourite has always been Kilpatrick Oysters. Of all the variations of the classic this recipe has to be my favourite. Start out by finding some beautiful fresh oysters. It takes no time at all to prepare the sauce. You start by finely slicing your bacon and add to a mixing bowl. In the same bowl put in a good dose of worchestershire sauce and there you have your basic Kilpatrick mix which is nice enough as it is but for that wow factor to your oysters you need to add a few more flavours. To your bacon and worchestershire mixture add a similiar amount of ketjap manis (sweet soy) then throw in about half that dose of tomato sauce and the same of barbeque and give it all a good mix (i'm not giving exact measurements because once you have tried it your goning to want more and more), now all thats left is a few drops of tobasco and a little seasoning (salt and pepper). Now you have your delectable mixture, spread your oysters out on a tray, a little bit of rock salt helps them to stand up nice and straight. Spoon a generous amount onto each oyster and pop the tray under your grill (if you don't have one placing it into the oven works just aswell) and cut yourself a few nice slabs of fresh bread, pour a glass of wine and wait till you start to get a bit of colour on the edges of your bacon bits and serve them up. Once again rock salt does the trick to keep them upright.

A little wedge of lemon or two for and devour these lovely morsels before everyone else does.

Shopping List:

Fresh Oysters

Bacon

Worchestershire sauce

Ketjap Manis (sweet soy)

Barbeque sauce

Tomato sauce

Tobasco sauce

Salt & Pepper

A Bowl of Tomatoes...

A little treat for the vegetarians and carnivores alike is a tomato and fetta salad served in a tomato. It’s nothing complicated but is always a real eye catcher something for your dinner party guests to remember long after the evening has concluded. The best thing of all is it is simplicity all you need to do is find yourself some good sized vine ripened tomatoes, then simply slice off the top making sure you hang onto it. Then take a spoon and scoop out the inside of the tomato being careful to keep it in tact. Grab yourself some good ripe Roma tomatoes and cube them up, toss them into a bowl with some fresh basil, red wine vinegar, good olive oil, a generous amount of salt and pepper to taste and then last of all crumble some good fetta into the bowl as well (my personal choice is a Persian fetta a little more at the cash register but the flavour and texture are something special). Gently mix it altogether and spoon it into the tomato bowls you made earlier pop the top of the tomato on as your lid drizzle with a bit of your olive oil and send them out to your guests.

To satisfy 6:

6 vine ripened tomatoes
8 Roma Tomatoes
150g Fetta (Persian is preferable)
A good handful of fresh basil leaves torn
A good splash of red wine vinegar
The same of a good olive oil
Salt and pepper

A Fresh Start...

The passion for cooking has been revitalised with the creating of a new menu. My new canvas is a lovely little cafe in the east of Sydney and after only the first weekend it's showing some real potential. After a lapse of a few months I thought it was well and truly time to fire up the keyboard and the gas burner and get back to cooking up some real treats.