This video was shot in Vis, Croatia a couple years ago when pandemic measures compelled me to take a hiatus from the blog to concentrate on mental health and wellbeing. In the process I turned into that expat who wondered why my parents ever left when the frenzied cacophony of pandemic fears I was experiencing in my home of Australia became replaced by a lull of softly swaying boats , long days spent foraging for fruits and herbs in the hills and the repetitive hum of waves rolling pebbles. Island life was like a balm on the soul - inhale, exhale then repeat.

My island neighbour complained about his life though-  he wanted to go to Australia to make a lot of money and I laughed- he lives in a 300 year old house by the sea he owns outright, eats yummy seafood all day long, works hard for only 4 months of tourist season, spending winter playing video games while his kids attend a free school mere minutes away - for many around the world his life would be dreamy and yet he feels like he doesn’t have enough because he lacks the items he covets. This conversation made me think about how our perspectives influence the scope of our gratitude, how disconnected I along with my fellow humans became when it comes to what money is and how full life is in its simplicity :  doing breathwork in the sun like a rock lizard charging up, the swooshing whisper of evergreen trees carrying the scent of pine on the breeze, a nightly talk to fishermen about their catch Peace was here and it was simple - it didn’t require gurus or workshops - just a whole lot more Nature. Being alone isn’t lonely when the starry heavens open up like fireworks at night, unhindered by smog and light pollution, when cute, little fish nibble on my toes as my feet dangled off the pier, when the bluest blue of the sea penetrates so deeply into my anxiety that it engulfs it in comfort. 

Then my teenage daughter arrived and nixed the whole idea of moving to a small outpost in the middle of bu** f*ck no where Adriatic, outraged I would even consider to drag her away from her exciting life in Sydney.  I could see her perspective and laughed at the different versions of the whole we were all experiencing. 

This recipe was born out of my adoration for the loquat - a chronically underused and undervalued fruit in my personal opinion - a small, tangy, seeded nugget bursting with flavour that only ripens for a short time in early spring. Not sure how to describe the taste of loquat for those that have never had it - I suppose it’s something like apricot, pineapple, citrus and apple having a baby, the thin skin bursting to uncover intense flavour inside. At this time I was trying to eat a lot more blue fish for health reasons ( omega 3 is so calming to the nervous system ), so I’d hit up fishermen for nourishing goodies nightly. Not entirely sure what this fish is called - endemic to the Adriatic it similar in taste and texture to the mackerel, but not well known or cultivated commercially. This recipe is a burst of fresh citrus - fruity but salty and oily, great for skin and hair.

INGREDIENTS ( serves one generously or two as an entree ) 

• 1 bulb of fennel, cored and chopped up finely or sliced ( reserve the fronds for stuffing fish)
• 1 small purple onion or half a larger onion
• A handful or two of cherry tomatoes, halved
• A handful or two of loquats, halved, seeded and chopped up 
• Freshly squeezed juice of one lemon and one orange
• Mint leaves to preference 
• Chopped up pistachio
• Extra virgin olive oil to taste 
• 2 x blue fish, gutted and de-scaled
• Salt and pepper 

METHOD:

Stuff the fish with thin orange slices, salt and pepper and the reserved fennel fronds, turn the oven on to 220 fan forced and grill to high. Cook depending on the strength of your oven and grill, these fish only needed about 8 minutes on each side before they developed crispy skin and cooked through in my oven but bigger fish or weaker ovens will need a little longer. Assemble all the other ingredients into a bowl in the meantime , season and serve! Bon apetit !

Croatia's island Vis is beautiful any time of the year but in spring it takes on a particularly fragrant and colourful persona with meadows full of wildflowers and herbs. Aromatic sage, oregano and rosemary  are still juicy pre- summer heats, tender shoots full of essential oils that pair wonderfully with lamb. I made two of my favourite go to, easy to make, healthy and nutritious dishes - a roast lamb with spring vegetables and a hearty herbed lamb soup - the roast lamb will be dinner tonight and the soup will develop even more flavour in the fridge overnight.

SPRING LAMB WITH WILD HERBS

A perennial favourite, with a new, easy twist

serves 2:

INGREDIENTS :

• for this recipe, get the butcher to cut off the rib part of the lamb, sometimes called the "hotel rack". Instead of frenching individual cutlets however, get the butcher to cut off four cutlets together in one piece. You will need two pieces of these, one for each person (or double up if you are feeling especially hungry!) Ask the butcher to also give you the leftover ribs, bones and meat which come conjoined to this cut , you will need this for the soup
• new season potatoes (as many as you want!) quartered if small
• spring carrots, halved or quartered depending on size ( you want them thin enough to cook through in the oven)
• one large onion, quartered
• one or two large fennel bulbs, cut thinly enough to cook through
• cherry tomatoes
• garlic (you will need a few cloves cut very finely for the sauce and some whole cloves to chuck in with the potato on the roasting tray)
• sage, rosemary, oregano
• white wine
• olive oil'
• salt and pepper
• one organic lemon

METHOD:

• Place the lamb on an oven tray that's been covered with baking paper
• parboil the potatoes in some water until soft
• place all the veggies, including the parboiled potato on the tray with the lamb, then douse with olive oil, salt and pepper, rosemary and a little bit of wine over the veggies.
• cut up one organic lemon, skin and all very thinly into small chunks and toss over the veggies. Massage it all through
• place in the oven at around 200-220C fan grill setting ( depending on how hot your oven grill gets )
• cook for around 20-30 minutes depending on how you like your lamb
• before serving, cut up garlic oregano and sage finely and add it to some olive oil with some salt and pepper
• liberally throw this delicious vampire repellant all over everything before serving

 

HEARTY LAMB SOUP

This dish can be started the day before eating, just make sure you boil the meat and bones for at least 3-4 hours, if not overnight. Once the broth is done , it can keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.  Adding the rest of the veggies  half an hour before serving, makes this into an easy and quick assembling hot meal

INGREDIENTS:

• lamb ribs or alternatively a lamb's neck
• filtered water
• salt and whole peppercorns
• rosemary
• half an onion, quartered
• carrots, cut in small pieces
• potato, cut in small chunks ( you can omit this if you would like a lighter soup )
• Savoy cabbage
• 2 leeks
• cherry tomato or regular tomato
• garlic

METHOD:

• Put filtered water into a large pot
• Add salt, peppercorns, quartered onion, and whole crushed garlic
• Add a sprig of rosemary whole ( you will take this out after the broth is done, more robust branches are better as they do not fall apart in the soup)
• Add cherry tomatoes ( the acidity helps to leech gut healing gelatin )
• Cook on low for as long as possible - I like to do at least 3 hours but when I have a reliable stovetop, I make sure to add a lot of water, cover the pot, put the heat on very low ( barely bubbling ) and leave to cook overnight for best taste and gelatine concentration
• About half an hour or so before serving , add Savoy cabbage, leeks, potato and carrots
• Best served with a dollop of leftover vampire herb souce if you like a stronger soup taste

Bon appetit! x

This summer was the first one that I owned an actual bbq yet had no man to helm it. Usually, the whole shebang goes something like this: I spend hours preparing the food while the guy drinks beer, then once I'm done, he fires up the bbq puts everything on there and gee whizz, a short time later, it is he who has cooked the meal and is the hero of the party. But is this bbq business really as hard as it looks? I put it to the test when I started cooking everything on my little Webber out on the deck this summer out of sheer avoidance of having a messy kitchen and having to clean the stovetop ( I know some people find it pleasurable, but gimme a vacuum job over a stovetop any day).

Dear readers, I know this will blow your mind but lo and behold, bbq-ing is not something only a male brain can understand! It is actually a really easy and versatile way of cooking that can be more foolproof than you think.
In my experimentations with the best bbq chicken recipes , I made up this drumstick recipe. I have a really good wings recipe involving molasses that is beyond delicious, but did you know that many people still don't like to think that their meat was once an animal with many bones? I needed to get a protein with less bones to appease my guests so this technique was born and it quickly became a favourite , not only for the flavour explosion but also the ease of putting it together in a hurry.

I made this for dinner last night and this picture was taken quickly as people were salivating around me. I am a terrible food stylist but I am an excellent hand swatter, and trust me, you will have to be one as well if you make this- it is that delicious that I recommend you get more chicken than what you think people will want to eat - I never have any chicken leftover and even the vegetarian friends sometimes get tempted into a bite ( can they still call themselves a vegetarian , idk, but I'm flattered either way)

This recipe is paleo, gluten, dairy and sugar free. Serves 2-3 people depending on your hunger levels

INGREDIENTS

for the dry rub
- 6 organic chicken drumsticks
- 2 -3 tablespoons of sumac ( a dried berry spice)
- 1-2 level tablespoon of turmeric
- 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (do change this for taste)
- good oil such as olive oil, tasteless coconut oil, grapeseed oil or expeller pressed sunflower oil
- salt and pepper
for the wet sauce
- 2 jalapeño peppers chopped
-  half a bunch of garlic chives chopped
- 4 spring onions or scallions chopped
- juice of 2-3 limes
- a bunch of coriander/cilantro chopped
- olive oil + salt and pepper

METHOD

In a large bowl, mix the chicken drumsticks with the spices, a good glug of oil and salt and pepper, making sure that the drumsticks are evenly coated with spices. You can do this ahead of time and keep in the fridge overnight for extra flavour, but I find that immediately before cooking is still yummy. Turn the bbq to high, then 5 minutes later, turn the bbq to medium low. Place the chicken on the bbq- it should be hot enough that you hear sizzling. I have found that 10 minutes on one side is a good amount of time to get lightly charcoaled and cooked through. I ended up doing 10 minutes on the skin side with the lid down, then 10 minutes on the other side with the lid down, and then I will do 3-5 minutes on the narrow curves that miss out right at the end with the lid open. This guarantees that the chicken is cooked through properly yet is still juicy. My chicken drumsticks are pretty small - if you have bigger ones and are unsure if the meat is cooked through, I recommend slicing open one of the legs to make sure. Nothing worse than still raw in the middle chicken served!
Whilst the legs are grilling, place all the wet sauce ingredients in a small bowl and mix through. Once the chicken is plated, pour the wet sauce all over it. Voila!

I served this meal with quick sides. Small onions were dipped into olive oil and then thrown on the bbq, and were turned whenever the chicken was. I also made a salad of watercress, rocket, kalamata olives, goat's blue cheese and figs with a balsamic dressing for some healthy greens. I know everyone is so against carbs these days but I'm a total fan so I made some potato and sweet potato chips in the oven as they take just as long as the chicken to cook. I sliced the potato quite thin and added olive oil, sumac, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme and whole garlic. I then sliced the sweet potato in double the thickness (because it takes less time to cook ) and mixed it with cinnamon, sumac, salt and pepper and of course oil , then added it to the same pan as the other chips. Fan grill on 200-220C and half an hour later you have chips that even the carb avoiders cannot deny.

Happy weekending!

PS: the beautiful plates are from In The Roundhouse

This pie reminds me of  summers spent in the sour cherry tree tops in the Croatian countryside as a child staining clothes beyond repair whilst gorging on the delicious tangy sweetness. It is super easy and quick to make, crazy delicious and quite saintly being both gluten and sugar free.

Confession: I use the gluten free sour cream shortcrust Careme pastry most of the time guys , I won’t lie ( *not sponsored but now that you know Careme call me ok ; ) * ) but if you have the time to make from scratch , I have really liked making my own variation with sour cream dough based on the excellent ones on this website.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 - 2 packets of frozen sour cherries (800-1000grams depending on the depth of your dish)
About 1/2-1 bottle maple syrup ( or to taste )
Cornstarch, about 3 tablespoons 
A good dash of Vanilla essence or the inside of 1 1/2 vanilla beans
Optional extras I personally like to add (not necessary) :
a couple of eggs
a couple of large dollops of cream
a dash of Kirsch
some sliced apple for decorating
You could also experiment with a touch less cornstarch and some pasture raised gelatine powder instead for a more jelly texture or almond flour for frangipane texture. 

METHOD
Pour frozen cherries into a pot and heat up until they thaw. Pour just over half of the liquid out when the cherries just come to boil, leaving some juice for sauce. Add the maple syrup, vanilla, Kirsch, mix and simmer for 10 minutes. Add cornstarch and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until the liquid has thickened significantly into a cohesive mass on a low simmer (about 5 minutes). The basis of the filling is done but I like to wait for the filling to cool and then add 2 beaten eggs (take 1/2 spoon cornstarch off) or 2 egg yolks and cream and mix that through before pouring into the shell for a richer, more indulgent taste.  

I am so lazy with this I do not roll out the pastry dear reader. If I had to go through doing this every time I wanted pie there is no way the pie would happen every week. Gluten free pastry is a nightmare to roll out and I don’t need more stress or mess in my life. Besides I find this does the near enough thing and the process makes me feel like a kid playing with clay without flour everywhere. Simply line the pie or tart dish with baking paper, then place the mostly defrosted dough in the middle. Squish the dough down and massage it over the whole surface of the dish, distributing evenly over the bottom and the sides until you made an even thickness pie shell (feel free to use creative finger moves!) Next up add the filling and distribute evenly. Place maple syrup brushed sliced apples on top. Bake at 220ºC for 15 minutes in a pre heated oven, then decrease the oven temperature to 190ºC . Bake till the crust is golden and the filling is thick, 35-50 minutes depending on your oven. Sit the pie to cool completely to set the fruit filling, at least 2 hours, then cut into wedge slices and serve at room temperature with clotted cream or vanilla ice cream . The pie will keep a day in the oven or 3 days in the fridge and is wonderful with morning coffee...if it lasts till the morning!

Photography and food styling by Alice Wesley Smith