After being thoroughly impressed last year, we could not help heading back again on our very first night in Coolangatta.  At least this year, we planned it better and decided to go on our first night with plans for a further visit later in the week.  Last year, we did the ridiculous thing of eating at this restaurant two nights in a row!!

This restaurant has a unique proposition where it's actually two restaurants in one - "Fresh" which is modern contemporary and "Shinsen" which is Japanese.  This makes it really easy to satisfy everyone's tastes, even the kids!

Fish & Chips

The kids chose to have fish & chips which looked absolutely yummy!  Even the salad was polished off, minus onions of course.

The restaurant has various deals during the week and from 5-6pm, all mains are half price, plus, as it was Friday, cocktails were $10 each.  So while we were waiting for our meal, Mi couldn't help but indulged in one - something that had passionfruit and kiwifruit in it...... my old brain can't remember the name!

I decided to give the sake (Japanese wine) a go after first being introduced to it by our friends Mike and Katie who had recently been to Japan.

Twice-cooked Belly Pork with stewed pear

Mi should have taken a picture of my expression when this arrived because I couldn't wait to get my chops into it.  (If you haven't already, click on the photo to see an enlarged version.  The thumbnail doesn't do it justice.)

My family would tell you that I CAN eat, but this was a generous serve.  Succulent, tender and the crackling was perfect.  The bits that you see on top are cranberries and pistachios.

I thought I was impressed and then Mi's meal arrived.

Sushi and Teppanyaki Platter


What can you say about this dish?  It was as good as it looks, and at half price.....

Stay tuned for Part 2.....

We decided to grow zucchinis this year with our tomatoes and have been pleasantly surprised with the harvest.  We actually planted four varieties but didn't realise that snails were so aggressive and had eaten two of the plants within two days of planting!  The two that survived were "lebanese zucchini" and "black jack".

So, I decided to make a zucchini frittata.

Recipe

2 zucchinis -  cut into chunks
1/2 red onion - diced
6 eggs
50 g shredded cheese
100g smoked salmon

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees.  Heat up pan and fry onion and zucchini but do no over-cook.  Beat eggs with salt and pepper.  Add shredded cheese and mix well.  

Pour into pan with zucchini and onion.  Turn down heat to medium and let mixture cook for a few minutes.  Add chopped smoked salmon over the top and press down.


Take off heat and put into oven for 10 minutes.

Serve with green salad.

A simple fun dinner with the kids tonight.

The beef was marinated in a Korean Bulgogi sauce, easily obtained at a Korean or Asian grocer. 

We got this BBQ for our wedding (9th anniversary coming up) and have only recently discovered how wonderful it is.  Low prep and fun - cook at the table.

My wife decided to surprise me one cold night with a hot cocktail.  My initial impressions were spiciness, warmth, a hint of citrus, and overall very unique and nice.  After guessing cointreau as one of the ingredients, I gave up.  Just couldn't get the rest.  I was convinced there was tea but she said no.

As it turns out, it was cointreau and chilli cordial (which we had got quite a few years ago at Murray Breweries in Beechworth) and hot water .


It was certainly a delight.  Can't wait to have more.

Not exactly one of my recipes but since it originated from the same household, I'm going to claim it as mine and share it here!!

We were given these chillies to us from my wife's aunt who has a variety of herbs, vegies and fruit in her garden.  Every time we visit, it is like harvest time for us.  It is a real delight to receive home-grown organic produce.

With the freezer overflowing, I thought I had better get on to using them and decided to make some chilli pastes.  The first was a harissa paste.

I got the Harissa Paste recipe from one of my favourite food blogs - 3 Hungry Tummies. The only difference is I used fresh birds eye chillies instead of dried chillies.  The bird eye chillies were HOT!

Will post an update when I use the harissa.

This is my own recipe.  Traditional you would use dried chillies for this type of chilli paste but again, I used fresh chillies.

Recipe


Ingredients:

300g bell pepper chillies

10 cloves garlic chopped
5 large shallots (asian)
50ml water
1 tbsp belacan (shrimp paste)
oil

Method:

Blend all chillies, garlic and shallots into a fine paste.  Heat oil on medium heat and fry the blended paste until fragrant.  Still constantly, otherwise it will splatter.  Cook for 30-45 minutes.

Halfway through cooking, put in belacan and continue stirring until dissolved.  Salt to taste.  Cool and bottle.  Will keep up to 2 weeks in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer.

Use in stir fries or as an accompaniment to fried noodles, fried rice etc.

Chicken with preserved lemons

I have been curious about middle eastern food lately so have been experimenting, even making my own preserved lemons from provided by generous friends.  The preserved lemons didn't take long to prepare but took a while to mature.

I've served this dish twice accompanied by cous cous and a hearty lentil soup.  

I got the chicken recipe from the local library and the lentil soup recipe soup was from Ozlem's Turkish Table.  The only modification I made was to leave out the chilli so that the kids could enjoy it too.

I always consider a dish a success when my guinea pigs (my family) demolish every last morsel, especially when the two little ones give me a thumbs up as well!  My wife considers this a dark sweet and sour variant.

Recipe


1.5 kg spare ribs, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red onion, chopped finely
2 star anise
2 tsp minced ginger
1 cup black vinegar
1 cup water
1/2 cup dark soy sauce
1/2 cup chinese cooking wine
200g rock sugar (2 large lumps)
white sesame seeds, toasted (as garnish)

Method:

Brown ribs until colour changes and fat is released.  Take ribs out and reserve.  Discard oil. 

Fry garlic, onion, star anise, ginger until soften.  Then add in black vinegar, water, dark soy sauce, chinese cooking wine and rock sugar.  Bring to boil, then lower to a simmer.  Add ribs.  Cook covered for about 1 -1.5 hours.  Skim off excess oil during cooking.

For the last 10-15 minutes, increase heat to high to reduce sauce.  

Plate dish and garnish with sesame seeds.  Serve with steamed rice.