Eating Out in Paradise

Night 1: Temple of Tastes
Grilled Barramundi with pureed peas, potato rosti and chilli and corn salsa. Accompanied by a lovely fruity Crowded House Sav Blanc from New Zealand.

Night 2: Vivo
Natural Oysters followed by Crab Linguini while Sweetpea enjoyed the Seafood Tagliattelli with Mussels

Night 3: L'Unico at Trinity Beach
Natural Oysters (again) followed by an unnameable local reef fish with winter roast vegetables. Sweetpea got stuck into the Bugs with Chili and Spaghetti. We shared the gelati dessert.

Night 4: Apres Bar and Grill
Surf and Turf (steak and prawns) with mango salsa for me. Reef and Beef (steak and bugs) for sweetpea. Then across the road for a shared Mandarin Sorbet and Chocolate Gelato dessert.

Day 1: Lunch courtesy of QANTAS therefore completely forgettable.

Day 2, 4 & 5: Lunch by the pool at the Sea Temple Pool Bar - Garlic Prawns washed down delicately with a Cosmopolitan or Margarita. Sweetpea loved the Barramundi Wraps and Temple Cocktail.

Day 3: Lunch by the water at Port Douglas - Fresh prawns with seafood sauce followed by a shared Bounty Bar!

Fennel Finally Writes A Post!

I actually wrote this post out a few hours ago only to have it disappear just as I tried to publish it.  Unfortunately, this version probably pales in comparison to my breath-stealing, knee-weakening, astoundingly amazing first draft so the world will never know what genius has been lost. Never mind.

I'm here to talk about fish, and my exciting double-meal-same-ingredient cooking experience. Cookies-and-Cream* and I decided to cook "a whole fish" (ie with the eyes and tail etc still attached) the other day.  While we were standing at the counter at our local fishmonger, we got chatting to a fellow customer who told us her favourite fish to cook was the rainbow trout we were in the process of purchasing. We asked for some tips on what to do with it and she told us not to go overboard with added flavours, and to "listen to the fish".

Back at home, the fish didn't seem in the mood for talking so we covered it in fresh parsley and dill, wrapped it in foil and popped it into the oven.  Meanwhile, I boiled some potatoes and covered them with butter and dill, and made the simplest, sexiest salad known to humankind: tomatoes, basil and bocconcini cheese.  The trout was delicious: a strongly flavoured creamy yet fresh flesh, kind of like the nautical equivalent of Swiss Brown mushrooms.

The next day I made a stock using the odds and sods of the fish, lots of fresh basil, parsley and dill, and all the slightly sad and wan looking vegetables left over from the week.  This happened to be: French shallot, fennel, and purple and orange carrots.  I just love making stock from scratch as it makes me feel like the craftiest, frugal-iest Earth Mother on the block.  Having never made fish stock before I was really pleased with how it turned out.  I now have 5 cups of lovely, purply, slightly sweet stock in the freezer waiting to be used at some point in the future.