seafood lasagne

What you need

40g butter

1 medium leek, trimmed, halved, washed, thinly sliced

2 medium carrots, peeled, finely chopped

1 teaspoon fresh lemon thyme leaves

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/3 cup plain flour

2 cups chicken stock

2 cups milk

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1 cup grated tasty cheese

500g salmon fillets, cut into 2cm pieces

200g ling, cut into 2cm pieces

12 (400g) green king prawns, peeled, deveined

2/3 cup panko breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 fresh lasagne sheets

Green salad, to serve

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What to do

Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan-forced. Grease a 6cm-deep, 22cm x 31cm baking dish.

Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add leek, carrot, thyme and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until leek has softened. Add flour. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Gradually add stock and milk, stirring, for 5 to 7 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly. Add mustard and half the cheese. Stir to combine. Remove from heat. Stand for 10 minutes. Stir in salmon, ling and prawns. Season with salt and pepper.

Combine breadcrumbs, olive oil and remaining cheese in a bowl. Line the prepared baking dish with 2 lasagne sheets. Top with 1/3 seafood mixture. Top with another 2 lasagne sheets and half remaining seafood mixture. Repeat with remaining lasagne sheets and seafood mixture. Sprinkle with breadcrumb mixture. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until pasta is tender and breadcrumbs are golden. Stand for 10 minutes. Serve with salad.

prawn, mango & avocado salad

What you need

2 large handfuls of torn iceberg lettuce
1 small handful mint, chopped
1 handful coriander leaves, chopped
200gr king prawns (shrimp), cooked and peeled
1/2 avocado, sliced
1/2 mango, sliced
60 ml (2 fl oz/1/4 cup) lime juice
4 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce

What to do

Combine the lettuce, mint and coriander and divide between two serving bowls.
Arrange the prawns, avocado and mango over the top.
Drizzle over the lime juice and top with a little sweet chilli sauce.

chilli crab

• Nothing like fresh crabs, Paul and the boys decided on a quiet Friday night to drag the boat down to the swan river. After may hours, with all the nets down they pulled up 8 monster blue swimmer crabs, and what better way to cook them than in a thick hot chilli sauce.

I think it was more fun watching these three guys dig into the large bowl of chilli crab, dipping the crusty bread and slurping up all that hot spicy sauce. On the down side was now having to clean the walls and windows that are now have red spots all over them.

• 
  
• what you need
• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 4 green (uncooked) blue swimmer crabs
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 fresh long red chillies finely chopped
• 1 tbs finely grated fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 2 tbs sweet chilli sauce
• 2 tbs dry sherry
• 1 tbs brown sugar
• 6 spring onions, ends trimmed, thinly sliced diagonally
• 1/4 cup fresh coriander
• 
  

what to do

Heat the oil in a large wok over high heat until just smoking. Add the crab and stir-fry for 5-7 minutes or until just cooked (the crab meat will turn white when cooked).

Add the garlic, chilli and ginger, and stir-fry for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the tomato and sweet chilli sauces, sherry and sugar, and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes or until sauce boils and thickens slightly.

Remove from heat. Add the spring onions and stir until just wilted. Add the coriander and toss until just combined.

Enjoy with crusty bread or serve with steamed rice

Crab linguine with chilli, lemon and garlic

what you need

1. 100ml olive oil
2. 1 medium-hot red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3. 1 fat garlic clove, finely chopped
4. 3 pared strips of lemon zest, finely chopped
5. 450g linguine - fresh if possible
6. 2 tbsp lemon juice, plus lemon wedges to serve
7. 225g freshly cooked white crab meat
8. 2 tbsp chopped fresh flatleaf parsley

what to do

1. Put the olive oil, chilli, garlic and lemon zest into a small pan and put over a gentle heat until it begins to fry. Remove from the heat and set aside.
2. Bring a large saucepan of well-salted water to the boil. Add the linguine and cook until al dente. Drain well and set aside.
3. Tip the chilli and lemon mixture into the pan the pasta was in, then add the lemon juice and season. Heat until sizzling, then add the linguine and crab meat to the pan and toss gently over a medium heat to warm the crab through.
4. Add the parsley, season, and serve immediately with lemon wedges.

seafood stew

with easter now upon us, seafood is the prefered option for many reasons,this great seafood stew is both light and filling, and the flavours you get from really fresh seafood will make all the difference.

what you need
½ cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, sliced
600g medium green prawns, peeled and butterflied
500g squid, cleaned, sliced into rings
1 fillet anchovy, chopped
½ cup white wine
400g can Italian chopped tomatoes
½ cup coarsely chopped Italian parsley
500g firm white fleshed fish fillets, such as cod or grouper cut into thick strips
600g black mussels, cleaned
extra parsley, to serve

what to do
Heat olive oil in a large oven-proof dish over a medium heat. Add garlic and prawns, cook until prawns are golden brown all over, remove prawns from dish and any garlic slices which are over-browning.

Add squid to dish and cook until golden, remove from pan and set aside. Stir in anchovy, wine, tomatoes and parsley and then bring to boil.

Scatter prawns, squid and fish over sauce in dish. Arrange the mussels standing up-right around edge of pan. Cover with foil, simmer gently for 10 minutes or until mussels have opened and seafood is just cooked through.

Season with salt and pepper, serve with lot of crusty bread

stuffed baby squid

what you need
50g fetta, crumbled
½ chorizo (75g), finely chopped
1 tomato, diced
grated rind of ½ lemon and juice of 1 lemon
1 cup (70g) fresh breadcrumbs
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped oregano
6 squid tubes, cleaned
1 tablespoon olive oil

what to do
Preheat barbecue or fry pan
Combine fetta, chorizo, tomato, lemon rind, breadcrumbs, parsley and oregano in a bowl. Season with pepper. Spoon into squid tubes and secure with toothpicks. Brush with oil.

Cook squid for 2 minutes each side. Drizzle with lemon juice and cook for another 2 minutes, until opaque and well browned. drizzle with some good olive oil, Serve with lemon wedges."

Ce careful not to overcook or the squid will become very tough

creamy garlic prawns

what you need
250 grams green (raw) prawns
2 cloves of garlic
50 grams butter

table spoon olive oil
30-mls brandy or white wine
Chopped shallots
Cup of thickened cream

what to do
Melt butter with olive oil in fry pan.
Add prawns and cook for about 30 secs
Put crushed garlic in fry pan
add the Brandy or white wine
Reduce liquid until nearly all gone
add the shallots and cream
Boil until cream thickens and reduces slightly.

Serve with rice to soak up all that lovely garlic and cream

chilli mussels

Chilli mussels are one of those dishes that everybody loves, and we sold so many in my restaurant, but get them wrong and people will let you know. One of my pet hates is a watery and tastless sauce, One of the main reasons for a watery sauce is the water that comes from the mussels themselves. The fresher the mussel the more water they contain, a mussel can filter up to 38litres of water a day (10 gallons) and while there is nothing better than the tase of fresh seawater, to much can lead to a very watered down sauce.

Ingredients
2 kg cleaned and de-bearded mussels
1 litre good tomato sugo (sauce)
75 mls dry white wine (Riesling, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc)
1 lemon - zest and juice
½ bunch fresh Italian parsley - roughly chopped
100mls extra virgin olive oil
2 gloves garlic crushed
2 small chillies choped (add to taste)

what to do
In a large saucepan with a tight fitting lid, add the mussels and steam till the mussels just open.
Discard 1/2 the water that is in the pot. (otherwise you will ahve avery watery sauce).
Add the white, garlic, chilli wine, and tomato sugo stir well and replace lid. Cook for 3-4 minutes on medium high heat or until all of the mussels shells are open and sauce is hot.
Remove from heat, Stir well so all mussels are coated in sauce.
Serve in large bowls with a drizzle of olive oil, fresh lemon juice and chopped parsley.

Serve a finger bowl and a bowl to put empty shells into, and lots of crusty bread to saok up the thick rich sauce.

chorizo stuffed baby squid

what you need

6 medium size squid
3 Tbs olive oil
1/3 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 chorozo sausage, minced roughly
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs fresh oregano, crumbled
1 Tbs continental parsley, choped
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1/4 cup Pecorino cheese, freshly grated
1 1/2 cups simple tomato sauce
6 anchovies
10 baby capers

what to do
To clean the squid gentley pull the tentacles from the squid and set aside.
Clean out and wash the the inside of the squid. You can gently turn the squid body inside out to fully clean. .
In a bowl mix the chorozo, bread crumbs, garlic, 2 Tbs olive oil, oregano, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Gently two thirds fill the squid with the stuffing mixture, don't over fill or th stuufing will be forced out during cooking.
In a hot fry pan, lightly frythe squid and tenticles in the olive oil, add the tomato sauce, anchovies and capers and bring to a slow simmer and cook for a further six minutes.
Try not to stir the squid too much! Turn the heat to low and gently stir in any remaining stuffing mixture.
Remove from the heat and sprinkle with the Pecarino cheese.
Great served with lots of nice crusty bread

Linguine with baby clams

A great dish inspired by, of course, the Ocean and the Italians. Sadly I have been to a number of so called “Italian” restaurants that come nowhere near to getting this dish right. I’ve had it with more sand than the local beach and garlic raw enough to ward of demons. If you follow this recipe to the letter you will end up with Linguine Vongole better than most places around.

What you need
750 grams (1.5 lbs) fresh vongole (baby clams)
500 grams (1 lb) fresh linguine
5 cloves of garlic (chopped)
A few sprigs of flat leaf parsley (chopped)
2 red birds eye chillies chopped (chili peppers) (optional)
2 lemons
Extra virgin olive oil
White wine
Sea salt flakes
Cracked black pepper

What to do
Place the clams in a strainer, then set that in a large mixing bowl and with the clams completely submerged, run cold water over them for about 10 minutes.
Lift the clams out of the water by hand and you should find a fair bit of sand in the bottom of the bowl.
Cook the pasta until al’dente and rinse until cold.
Arrange 4 serving plates or bowls.
Place a pot of boiling salted water on to boil.
In a liberal amount of olive oil sauté the garlic for about a minute and add the chilli.
Once the garlic is very lightly browned immediately remove the contents of the pan into a large mixing bowl.
Wipe the pan clean and return it to the heat.
Add the clams and a splash of wine.
Keep the pan moving and as soon as the clams open remove them to the bowl of garlic one at a time with some tongs.
Once all the clams have opened, plunge the pasta back into the water.
While the pasta rewarms place pan back over the heat and add the clams and garlic back in, sprinkle with chopped parley, more olive oil if needed and a splash of wine.
Drain the pasta, taste the pan contents for one last final seasoning and combine everything for one last time and toss with the juice of one or two lemons, serve and garnish with a little more parsley.

Enjoy with crusty white bread

crispy fried whitebait

what you need
150gr plain flour
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 cup chopped basil
500gr whitebait
vegetable oil for frying

what to do
Combine flour basil and garlic salt in a large bowl
Toss whitebait in batches until all coated
heat oil in a large saucepan to approx 180 degrees celcius. deepfry white bait till golden brown and cooked through.
drain on absorbent paper.

Serve with lime ailoi as astarter ot part of a larger platter