chicken vindaloo

Skin 4 chicken legs and separate each into two pieces: drumstick and thigh. Season with salt and black pepper and set aside. Soak 10 dried chillies (preferably Kashmiri) in water.

Heat some ghee in a saucepan over a medium-low flame. Fry 2 diced onions until soft. Meanwhile, roast, grind and combine the following: 1 tiny cinnamon quill, 1 star anise pod
, 2 tsp cumin seeds, 2 tsp poppy seeds, 1 tsp mustard seeds and 1 tsp sweet paprika. Blitz spices in food processor with softened chillies, 4 minced cloves of garlic
and a nice piece of fresh ginger. Moisten with a glug or two of apple cider vinegar.

Once the onions are soft, add 2 peeled and diced tomatoes. When softened, add the spice paste and fry off for a minute or two. Add the chicken, enough water to cover and 2 tsp brown sugar. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove lid and add a handful of fresh curry leaves. Simmer for a further 5 minutes and serve.

chicken and cashew curry

Skin 4 chicken legs and separate each into two pieces: drumstick and thigh. Season with salt and pepper.

Melt some ghee in a large saucepan. Over a medium-low flame fry a couple of diced onions with 2 cloves of minced garlic, a thumbnail-sized piece of ginger (minced) and 10 dried chillies (preferably Kashmiri). Add 2 tbs hot curry powder, 4 ground cloves, a good grind of black pepper and a small cinnamon quill. Stir. Add two peeled and diced tomatoes and cook until you start to end up with a sauce. Add chicken, 800 mL coconut cream and a dash of tandoori colouring. Tandoori colouring is just that: colouring. Adding it doesn't impact on the flavour, so feel free to leave it out or replace it with turmeric. Bring sauce to boil, reduce heat and simmer--covered--for 45 minutes. Remove lid and add a handful of fresh curry leaves for the final 5 minutes of cooking. Serve with steamed rice.

barbecued rabbit with chilli marinade

PREP

Using a cleaver, cut a domesticated or young wild-shot rabbit six portions: 2 * rear legs, 2 * fore legs with the body split into 2 pieces widthways. In a non-metallic bowl, combine rabbit pieces with some peanut oil, Tabasco (or similar sauce), a couple of tsp of chilli powder, a couple of tsp of ground black pepper and a couple of tsp of hot paprika. Set aside, turning rabbit pieces occasionally, while you get the fire going.

COOK

You can cook this on a gas barbecue, but for me this is a Spring/Summer dish: I light a small fire, let it burn down, lay down a clean grill and cook over the hot coals.

Turn rabbit pieces frequently to prevent burning. Depending on the temperature of the fire, the rabbit should take 10-15 minutes to cook through.

coconut chicken

This is Kenyan dish. Simple and very good.

PREP

Skin 4 chicken legs (thigh and drumstick) and season with salt and pepper. Heat a large (lidded) casserole or saucepan over a high heat, add a little oil and brown the chicken on all sides.

Fry 2 diced onions in oil over a medium-low flame until soft, then add 2 minced cloves of garlic and a thumbnail's worth of minced ginger. Cook for another 5 minutes and then add 2 diced and peeled tomatoes. When tomatoes have gone mushy, add 400 mL coconut milk
, 2 tbs ground coriander seeds, salt, pepper and the chicken legs.

SIMMER AND SERVE

Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir in chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves and serve with steamed rice.

quail 'kiev'

PREP

Combine 6 tbs softened butter, 1 minced garlic clove, 3 tbs chopped dill, 3 tbs chopped parsley and a pinch of salt. Set aside.

Cut the necks and wings off six quail. Stuff each quail with some of the herb and garlic butter. Now, this is the tricky part. Close the cavity by tying a length of kitchen twine around one of the legs. Gently pull back both legs so they rest on the stumps of the wings. Bind the legs together with twine so they stay in place.

Season some bread crumbs with salt and pepper. Brush the stuffed and contorted quails with a beaten egg and then coat in bread crumbs.

COOK

Roast for 20-25 minutes at 180*C.

grilled calamari

PREP

Behead one fresh squid. Discard the beak, but hang onto the tentacles: you can eat them too and they'll be marvelous, so long as you don't overcook them.

Carefully open the squid's body with a knife and lay it out flat. Discard the 'plastic' membrane and use some paper towel to wipe away the residue. Trim the wing tips.

Carefully use the tip of the knife to score a criss-cross pattern into one side of the flesh. Cut squid into thick strips. Rub with diced fresh chilli, minced garlic and ground black pepper. Smear with olive oil. Allow to marinate in fridge for a couple of hours.

COOK

Pre-heat grill pan or barbecue to high. Place squid pieces, scored side up, onto pan. Squeeze lemon half over them. After 45 seconds, flip squid pieces. Grill for another 45 seconds. Turn once more to ensure curled part cooks properly.

Tentacles can be grilled with the body. Be really, really, really careful as it's so easy to overcook them.

Serve warm, dressed with lemon juice.

pizza bases

How do you perfect pizza bases in a domestic oven? Simple. You use a pizza stone. In Australia, you can pick them up for $10-15 from supermarkets and kitchenware shops. I'm not big on gadgets, but I don't regret the purchase of my stone. You can use it for bread as well. I'm meaning to get around to roasting some sort of animal on it, just to see what happens.

PREP

Combine 2 cups of self-raising flour, 1 tsp caster sugar, 7 g dried yeast and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Form a well and add 200 mL warm water and 1 tbs olive oil. Mix together to form a dough. Knead thoroughly, add to a lightly oiled bowl and place somewhere warm for a hour to rise.

Cheat: If it's a cold day, stick the bowl in the bathroom, turn on the heat lamp and close the door.

COOK

While the dough is rising, place stone in the oven and pre-heat oven to 230*C. Pre-heat the stone for 30-40 minutes. Roll dough directly onto stone. Top with tomato pasatta (roasted and sieved tomatoes). By all means, combine it with chopped herbs, minced garlic and/or diced chilli. Do not--for the love of all things holy--use tomato paste. Tomato paste is a concentrate. Top with a small amount of stuff. Finally, add cheese: mozzarella is the classic choice, but boccocini or even blue cheese (seriously) will serve you well too. Cook until the base is crisp. So long as you don't have too much stuff on top of your pizza, the cheese should be done melting and the base should attain perfect crispiness at about the same time.

pork, veal and beef ragu

Trialled a lot of recipes for Bolognese and so far this is the favourite. No need to follow it to the letter: so long as you have some cured pork in there, cook the sauce for 2+ hours and stir frequently to ensure the final product is rich and thick, you'll be okay. Feel free to replace (or add to) the beef, veal and pork with anything from from kangaroo to wild boar to venison. Chicken liver is a nice addition. Brown it
first, roughly chop it and add it to the sauce for the final 20 minutes of cooking.

Whatever meat(s) form the base of the source, you'll get a better result if it's freshly minced. If you don't have access to a mincer, small chunks are okay.

MEAT

Fry 100 g diced panchetta (substitute streaky bacon) until crispy in a large saucepan. Set aside. Fry 250 g pork mince, 250g veal mince, 250 g beef mince and one roughly chopped and peeled Italian pork sausage. Brown the meat. Brown it. Cooking it until it's white isn't good enough. Set the meat aside.and clean the saucepan.

SOFRITO

Fry 500 g (1 pound) diced onion, 1 diced carrot, 1 diced stick of celery in olive oil over a low flame until soft. Add 2-3 minced garlic cloves. Cook for another 5 minutes.

ASSEMBLY

Return meat to pan. Pour in a glass of dry red wine and 700 mL tomato pasatta (sieved and roasted tomatoes). If there is not enough liquid to cover meat and vegetables, add stock. Bring to boil. Simmer on low heat for 2-3 hours, stirring frequently. Serve with pasta of choice and freshly grated Parmesan or percorino.

tacos

PREPARE BEEF

Season 400 g (~1 pound) skirt steak (substitute rump) with salt, ground white pepper and ground cumin seeds. Set aside to come up to room temperature.

Pre-heat grill pan or barbecue to high. Grease with a little peanut oil. Cook steak for 2 minutes. Turn. Cook for 2 minutes. Reduce heat and cook for a further 1-2 minutes on each side. Take steak off heat and rest, covered in foil.

PREPARE VEGETABLES

Dice a tomato and jalapeno. Peel, deseed and dice a Lebanese cucumber. Finely mince a clove of garlic. Roughly chop a handful of fresh coriander (cilantro). Combine these ingredients in a bowl.

FILL

Warm tortilla shells according to packet instructions. Slice steak thinly. Fill tortilla shells with sliced steak and vegetables. Serve warm.