BBQ Snapper with Chimichurri

Pre-preparing sauces or condiments prior to hitting the road is a surefire way to avoid dull meals on the road. An olive oil based sauce such as this chimichurri or a salsa verde will keep in the fridge for up to a month, or can be frozen into ice cube trays for longer trips. Drizzle it over anything from eggs and vegetables, to barbecued meat or seafood; it’ll bring a fresh flavour punch to elevate your food game on the road.

RECIPE BY: Sam Goodwin for Dometic eMag
SERVES: 4
PREPARATION: 20 minutes
COOKING: 20 minutes  

INGREDIENTS

Chimichurri
1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1/2 bunch coriander, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 long red chillies, finely chopped
Zest of 1 small lemon
1/4 cup red wine vinegar or lemon juice
1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil

BBQ Snapper
1-1.5kg snapper (or similar), scaled & gutted
2 tbs vegetable oil

1. To make chimichurri, combine herbs, garlic, chillies, lemon zest and red wine vinegar in small bowl. Gradually mix in olive oil. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Store refrigerated in an airtight jar for up to a month, or freeze into ice cube trays for up to 6 months.

2. To prepare your fish, score both sides of the fish 4-5 times with a sharp knife, then rub with oil all over and season generously. Stuff the cavity with any excess stalks from herbs, and slices of lemon.

3. Heat barbecue or a char-grill pan on a medium-high heat. Lightly oil grill or pan. Barbecue fish for 7-8 minutes on each side, until lightly charred and just cooked through. Season to taste, squeezing over lemon lime juice, and scattering with excess coriander and chilli.

Serving suggestion: serve with a potato salad, and/or a fresh mango and chilli salsa.

Tips;

For extra crispy skin, and to prevent sticking, pat dry your fish with paper towel, then leave it uncovered on a rack in the fridge for 2-3 hours prior to dry prior to scoring.

Snapper Burger with Yoghurt Tartare

Quick & easy fish burgers that you can whip up after a good day on the water. Perfect to put in the middle of the table to be shared along with some hot chips and a few cold beverages.

RECIPE BY: Sam Goodwin
SERVES: 4
PREPARATION: 20 minutes
COOKING: 10 minutes  

INGREDIENTS

4 x 100g portion Snapper, or other firm white flesh fish
1 cup flour
3 Eggs
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1/3 cup Parmesan, finely grated
2 tsp Dried parsley flakes
½ Lemon, zest of
1 tbsp Sea salt flakes

4 Burger buns
Cos lettuce leaves

YOGHURT TARTARE
¼ cup Natural yoghurt
¼ cup Sour cream
½ bunch Dill, finely chopped
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp Capers, roughly chopped

PICKLED SHALLOTS
2 French shallots, finely sliced
½ cup White wine vinegar
½ cup Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Whole black peppercorns
1 tsp Mustard seeds

HOW

 1.    To prepare fish burgers, place flour in one dish, beat eggs in second dish. In a third dish, combine panko, parmesan, parsley, lemon zest, and salt flakes to form fish crumb.

2.     Coat each piece of fish in flour, then egg, and then coat liberally in crumb mixture. Set aside until ready to cook.

3.     To make yoghurt tartare, in a small bowl combine all ingredients. Season to taste with salt.

4.     To make pickled shallots, slice shallots & place in small heat proof bowl. Meanwhile, place vinegar, sugar, salt, spices & ¼ cup water into small saucepan over medium heat. Heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Pour over shallots and allow to pickle for a minimum of 20 minutes. Strain shallots when ready to serve.

5.     To cook the fish, heat large frying pan with 3 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. When pan is hot add fish. Shallow fry fish until crumbs are golden & crispy; about 2-3 minutes each side.

6.     Lightly toast cut burger buns. To assemble, start with a liberal amount of tartare sauce, then the lettuce, top with fish, and finish with pickled shallots. Serve.

Chinese steamed Murray Cod with Ginger & Spring Onions

If there’s one fish recipe you should learn off the top of your head then this is it. Steaming fish is the most foolproof way to ensure you have perfectly cooked, moist, and delicious flesh. This is a play on the super traditional Chinese steamed fish with process optimised to help you feed a family of 4 quickly. Murray Cod definitely isn’t necessary - substitute it out with any firm white fish such as SNAPPER or BARRAMUNDI.

RECIPE BY: Sam Goodwin
SERVES: 4
PREPARATION: 20 minutes
COOKING: 10 minutes  

INGREDIENTS

4 x 150g Murray Cod Fillets
5cm ginger, julienned
1 bunch spring onions,
2 no. pak choy, quartered
2 no. Chinese broccoli

Coriander Leaves, for garnish

SOY BROTH
2/3 cup water
4 tbsp Shao Hsing
2 tbsp light soy
2 tsp brown sugar

CHILLI OIL
½ cup peanut oil
2 cm ginger, minced
2 clove garlic, minced
1 no. birds eye chilli, finely chopped
3 no. long red chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp sesame oil

HOW

 1.     Place large pan of water & steamer basket over high heat and bring to boil.

2.     Meanwhile, chop green ends off of spring onions & lay white lengths flat on deep dinner plate or bowl that fits inside steamer basket. Lay fish pieces on top of spring onions, then garnish with ginger.

3.     Combine all ingredients for the broth. Pour ¾ of broth mixture over fish. Place plate of fish inside steamer basket and steam fish for 5-7 minutes, or until fish is cooked.

4.     Meanwhile, for the steamed vegetables, heat 1tbsp oil in medium frying pan, add vegetables, sear for 2 minutes or until lightly browned. Add remaining ¼ of broth liquid, cover with lid & allow to steam for 2 minutes.

5.     For the chilli oil, place all ingredients except oil in heatproof bowl. Heat oil in small saucepan until shimmering but not quite smoking. Pour hot oil over ingredients in bowl.

6.     To finish, place steamed vegetables in base of bowl, top with fish, pour over broth, then spoon over hot chilli oil, finish by garnishing with coriander leaves & julienned spring onion tops.

TIPS

1. Substitute Murray Cod for snapper or barramundi

Montague Plum Persian Love Cake

There is no better cake hot out of the oven than a Persian Love Cake served with zingy greek yoghurt. This recipe is a slight variant on the standard version; utilizing beautiful seasonal summer plums by The Montague Tree. The plums paired with the loud rosewater & lemon notes is a flavour combination to behold.

RECIPE BY: Sam Goodwin
MAKES: 10-12 serves
PREPARATION: 20 minutes
COOKING: 45-55 minutes 

INGREDIENTS

CAKE MIXTURE

• 10-12 The Montague Tree Plums, halved & pitted

• 190g Unsalted Butter

• 150g Caster Sugar

• 4 Large Eggs, beaten

• 90g Plain Flour

• 140g Almond Meal

• 140g Pistachios, ground

• 1 tsp Baking Powder

• 8-10 Cardamom Pods, seeds reserved, pods discarded

• 1 tbsp Rosewater

• 1 Lemon, juice & zest

• 1/2 tsp Salt

SYRUP

• 70ml Lemon Juice

• 60ml Rosewater

• 1/3 cup Caster Sugar  

LEMON DRIZZLE ICING

• 1/2 cup Icing Sugar

• 30ml Lemon Juice

GARNISH / TO SERVE

• Pistachios

• Dried rose petals (optional)

• Greek yoghurt or Creme Fraiche

HOW

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Grease & line a 23cm round cake tin with baking paper on all sides.

2. For the cake batter, in a large mixing bowl cream butter & sugar for 7-8 minutes until light & fluffy. Gradually add eggs ensuring each addition is well combined before adding the next.

3. Place cardamom seeds in food processor with pistachios. Blitz until fine meal achieved. Sift this mixture along with all other dry ingredients into cake batter. Add lemon juice, zest & rosewater & fold through gently until well combined.

4. Transfer cake batter into pre-prepared tins & top with halved plums (just enough to loosely cover the surface - all may not be required depending on size).

5. Bake for 40 minutes, then turn oven up to 170 degrees & bake for a further 20 minutes or until dark golden brown & a skewer can be removed cleanly from centre of cake.

6. Meanwhile, whilst cake is in its final 5 minutes of cooking, make the syrup by adding all ingredients to a small saucepan & bring to boil. Stir until sugar is dissolved & remove from heat. Immediately after cake is removed from oven drizzle all syrup over top of cake. Set the cake aside to cool to room temperature.

7. Make the icing by combining all ingredients in a small bowl.

8. When cake is completely cooled remove from tin & drizzle over the icing mixture. Garnish with extra pistachios & dried rose petals. Serve with greek yoghurt.

TIPS

1. It looks like a lot of syrup to pour over the cake but the cake will absorb it & needs it to add moisture & zing. Make sure the cake is hot out of the oven when the syrup is poured on!

 

Salt & Pepper Calamari, with Tomato Nahm Jim Salad

 

This combination of crispy salt & pepper calamari, with a punchy Thai style salad would have to be one of my all time favourites. It’s what I crave after a session in the surf or day out on the boat. It’s fried, salty & rich, yet there’s enough fresh herbs & acidity there to justify calling it ‘healthy’ & not feeling like a blob. The salad is super universal so save it in the recipe bank & pair it with a piece of crispy pork belly at your next dinner party.

RECIPE BY: Sam Goodwin
SERVES: 2
PREPARATION: 20 minutes
COOKING: 5 minutes 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large calamari tube

• 1 cup milk

• ½ cup cornflour

• ½ cup all-purpose flour

• Salt flakes

• Cracked blacked pepper

• Vegetable Oil for frying

• 1 bunch coriander, leaves picked

• 1 bunch mint, leaves picked

• 1 shallot, finely sliced

• 1 green apple, julienned 

TOMATO NAHM JIM DRESSING -

• 2 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped

• 2 coriander roots, washed and coarsely chopped

• 2 long red chillies, seeds removed, coarsely chopped

• 6 ripe cherry tomatoes, coarsely chopped

• 2 tbsp light palm sugar, finely crushed

• 60 ml lime juice, or to taste (¼ cup)

• 2 tbsp fish sauce

TO SERVE;

• Fried shallots

• Lime wedge

HOW

1.    Preheat deep or shallow fryer to 190-200 degrees.

2.    To prepare calamari, cut open tube to form flat sheet. Score one side in lattice pattern, then slice into 1cm wide strips. Place calamari strips in bowl of milk whilst preparing other elements. Refer TIPS below for advice on tenderising calamari.

3.    Combine flours & salt in medium mixing bowl. Transfer calamari from milk into flour mixture. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes to help the flour mixture stick.

4.    Whilst the calamari is sitting prepare the Nahm Jim salad. To make the Nahm Jim Dressing place all ingredients except fish sauce into mortar & pestle, then grind into coarse dressing. Season with fish sauce to taste. Alternatively, this can be done in a food processor if you wish. To prepare salad base, add coriander, mint, shallot, & green apple into large bowl & toss to combine. Dress with Nahm Jim as desired. Set aside.

5.    To cook calamari, gentle place into preheated fryer. Fry for 2-3 minutes or until beginning to turn golden brown. Remove from fryer & toss with salt flakes & cracked black pepper.

6.    To serve, top Nahm Jim sald with freshly cooked calamari. Garnish with fried shallots, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice if desired.

TIPS

1. My preferred way to tenderize calamari is to freeze it for a short time prior to starting this recipe. This helps to breakdown the proteins.