Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas (for seafood lovers)

I love this time of year. Calm seas, the build-up, northerly winds in the afternoon. The humidity rising and the fishing usually red hot, and often red fish. It has been a busy old time of late, monster functions, busy planning for Christmas, the music festival, the celebrity chefs dinner, just so much going on I have had not much time for blog writing and not even much time for fishing but it is always the same this time of year. A great challenge is also securing supply of seafood and as our relationship with our fisherman has grown I am getting first crack at more and more of the locally caught product. We pay top dollar, same day and really respect the product we get and try to showcase it in the restaurant every night. The Mud Crabs are back from the annual spawning run where they disappear to sea for about 3 months, beautiful Coral Trout, Red Emperor and plate size whole local snapper are all in good supply. This morning I even picked up an amazing Dog Tooth Tuna. I have written about these fish before, pale, almost white fleshed they are, in my view, the absolute king of local tuna and served seared and sliced rare are just , well, amazing.

I am trying to cram as much into this blog post as I can to relive the month that was since my last post. I will put the photos in order.

1. A huge event at Whitehaven Beach. Lunch under canvass for 240 guests. A few shots.

2. My contribution to the chefs dinner at Lure cooking with Qld Chef of the Year Ben Williams from Gerard’s Bistro (and taking my girls to his venue next Monday night). Roasted red skinned Coral Trout in Ginger and lemon Myrtle Consommé w/ Green Mango and Pawpaw salad.. I thought Ben’s steak dish was the star of the show but pretty happy to be in good company. The photos were taken by my Business Partner Bec who as well as being a great chef in her own right, has an amazing eye for food photography.

3. Red Snapper for crispy whole fish. All about bright eyes and fresh, fresh, fresh.

4. Coral Trout picked up this morning, plus a cracking shot of one a mate caught last time I went to the reef. For the sensitive readers the little trickle of blood on this photo is from brain spiking. I will do a blog post about it soon as, while it looks a bit gruesome, it is both humane and radically improves the quality of the fish on the plate.

5. Red Emperor. Just about my number 1.

6. Who let the dogs out? One of our great Chefs Dan with a big “Doggie”

7. The boys are back in town. Chilli Crabs and Balmy nights. I love summertime.

Cooking with the stars

The upcoming Celebrity Chef dinner at Lure is a great chance to marry the talents of some our countries great chefs with the produce our region is justifiably famous for and I have had a great time this morning scouting for some bits and pieces for what I expect to be the food and wine event of the year. A drive down to Conway Beach to some of the local hobby farms and boutique growers is a great experience for both locals and visiting foodies. The large paddock on the left, just past Salt Water Creek bridge that looks a bit like a tea plantation is actually Lemon Myrtle and this will be one of the aromats I use in the poaching stock, along with some Bowen grown Ginger , Garlic & Chilli’s for my Coral Trout dish. Speaking of which, our principle commercial reef fisherman Trevor Draper is heading to sea this weekend on the promise of good tides and calm seas and we should have ample supply of this wonderful fish, both for the event and the restaurant. It is abundant at this time of the year and even I managed to catch a couple, including one of the best I have caught in years a few weekends ago (brag photo included).

Green mangos are also heavy on the trees which will be the basis of a green mango and pawpaw salad being served with the Coral trout. We have some amazing U 6 Banana Prawns from Bowen, arguably the biggest this particular species grows to and they are a delicious sweet prawns but not as colourful as the more visually appealing tiger prawns. In my view however they are a much nicer prawn to eat and will form part of course 1, accompanied with some braised sticky pork belly.

Chloe Bowles, one of this year’s Master Chef Stars and an acknowledged “dessert queen” will be making a wonderful Lychee based dessert and I visited the Conway Beach lychee farm to check on progress. We may be a week or 2 too soon for local lychees but still great to see a heavy crop of fruit hanging from these trees with the promise of plenty of locally grown fruit for the Christmas feasts.

Ben Williamson from Gerard’s Bistro is also planning some stunning dishes and without giving the game away, keep an eye on the Lure Facebook page to see what he has in store and book a ticket. At $120 including a 7 course meal with 6 wines and a cocktail this is going to be an amazing dining experience with plenty of interaction, some tips and the showcasing of just how far our regions food culture has developed. I'm getting excited and hoping to see you on the night.

The Many Faces of Coral Trout

Wonderful Spring weather has blessed the Whitsundays over recent weeks with mainly clear skies and calm seas. As well as a great time to holiday in the region it is also a great time for fishermen with an abundance of all the prized reef fish available. The undisputed king of all being the highly acclaimed Coral trout, in all its many guises. I visited Whitsunday Seafood’s in Carlo Drive this morning, just as they starting to process the days catch. Destined for the resorts and restaurants of the area they also have  retail outlets, both at the factory front in Carlo Drive and at Abel Point Marina and are soon to open a “Fish & Chippy” at Port of Airlie next to Denman’s Cellars. We have been buying of Matt, Murry and the crew for a couple of years now and are delighted to have formed a close relationship with these passionate suppliers. All about providence and locavore supply. There are many varieties of Coral trout, in fact 7 clearly distinct varieties, all identical on the plate but vastly different in pattern and colouration, all the way from deep vivid red, through the oranges, browns, greens and blacks to the more outlandish footballer, passionfruit and leopard trout. Leopards are the rarest and I have only ever seen 2 in all the years dealing with these fish but to help you understand some of the many faces of our wonderful trout I have posted some photos and details. A bit like fingerprints every spot pattern, even within the sub species of trout if different on every fish.

1. Head shot of a common coral trout called a “strawberry trout”, caught usually in deep water.

2. Same shot of a common coral trout called a “black”, usually caught in shallow water but less “common”.

3. 3 different coloured “commons”. Strawberry, Black and one a variation and just called a “Trout”. Again a shallow water (less the 15 meters) fish.

4. Face shot of a “footballer trout”, called so for reasons very obvious in the next photos. Also known as a “Collingwood”.

5. A whole “footballer”. These turn up anywhere but usually in the shallows. One train of thought is that “Footballers” turn into “blue spots” as they get bigger but this is clearly not the case when you can catch footballer’s bigger then blue spots.

6. Face shot of a “Blue Spot Trout”. Also called an “Oceanic”. Similar in its face to a common but with larger blue spots, much larger spots down its body.

7. Body shot of a Blue Spot.

8. Another Blue Spot but much darker fish.

9. Face shot of a “Bar Cheek”, or “Island trout”. As the name suggests these are caught around the islands but only seldom on the reef. The face patterns vary enormously but always large irregular shaped and bright fluorescent blue spots on its face and flanks and generally a pale burnt orange colour. 

10. A big Bar Cheek I caught last week. Look at the 2 very different "fingerprints" face patterns of this fish and the one above.

11. A multi coloured bin full at Whitsundays Seafood’s. Greenies, Stanberry, Pink, Footballer and a dark blue spot all clearly visible.

So that is just one part of the fabulous Coral trout story. The other part is best enjoyed “on the plate”, I just happen to know a seafood restaurant in Airlie Beach with an abundant supply right now!!

Dinner at the airport but not airline catering

The runway dinner for 190 guests on Saturday night was a stunning success of both logistics and content and reminds me of what a great team we have in our company. Within the space of the last plane landing on the runway we had just 2 hours to set up the marquees, tables, chairs and table settings, and, at the same time the cocktail bar and mobile kitchen and the first guests arrived at 6pm and dinner was served at 6.30. A six course table banquet. The food looked sensational but you will have to take my word for it because once the buttons was pressed I was too busy cooking, plating and bossing everyone around to take photos. It is a great thrill to have it all go so well and even nicer knowing we have a crew capable of doing these off-site events and willing to do the hard yards cleaning up after it is over. Not sure how this went because the clean-up team were on a day off today after no doubt working well into the early hours of Sunday morning and I am sure they saw the sun rise while still finishing off. Collectively the crew fed over 1500 guests on Saturday. 190 at the runway dinner, 80 at a wedding at Waterline, 400 in the restaurant and 900 with the cruise boats. That’s a lot of food, a lot of dishes to wash and I also know it is a lot of happy customers. I went home at about 10, and then got up at 2am and went to the reef fishing….just to make sure there was a bit of “bait” to go with this “plate”, and Coral Trout are “on the chew”.

Unreal Estate with an unreal kitchen

One of the great advantages of offering off-site catering is that every now and then I get to cook in some amazing places, and nowhere more amazing than tonight’s “gig”. This Tuesday night (Tomorrow) a TV show called “Unreal estate” will feature a house I cook in a bit for special occasions, as I did for the show, and as I did tonight for some guests at “Mandalay House”. This is simply the best kitchen I have ever cooked in in a private house or superyacht. 2 ovens, separate steamer, 3 dishwashers, built in coffee machine as well as a wood fire pizza oven and BBQ on the balcony, the kitchen even has a walk in cold room and freezer, a butler’s pantry, a poolside bar, and spectacular formal as well as poolside dining areas. The kitchen has an enormous marble island bench that is a stunning and functional centrepiece, push button draws, induction and gas hobs and every bit of high end kitchen toys and cookware. I am going back Thursday to cook pizzas and next week to do a formal dinner in the wine cellar dining area. It is just an amazing house and one I feel quiet privileged to get to cook in. A great kitchen and great equipment help inspire great food. I will post some more shots later in the week but watch the TV show tomorrow night as I am sure it will do far more justice to the whole house than my “box brownie” photos.

Fish & Chip pizza. Is this the first ever?

I have been doing lots of fishing centric blog posts lately, so maybe time for one more about the end game. Sunday lunch is usually an “at home affair” and today was unexceptional, except the outcome. “What do you feel like for lunch honey”, was the question, answered with, “I’m not sure, pizza or fish and chips”. I am a big fan of homemade pizza and also love a good fish and chip meal, so I set out, on a whim, to do both…on the same plate. A “fish & chip pizza”. Has this ever been done? Not much in the world of cookery is unique, Someone, somewhere has done it before but if it was not unique, it was certainly “different” and the result….outstanding. I am sitting at my computer with a glass of Rose and can still taste the favours. Ingredients were simple, Flour, water, yeast and make a bread dough. Potatoes, some of that amazing big coral tout I caught yesterday. Some olive oil, rosemary from the balcony garden, some salt and pepper and I had “fish & chip pizza. The pictures will outlay the process but make a pizza base, drizzle with olive oil, layer with pre-cooked wafer thin potato (get yourself one of these  mandolins…gold),drain and pat dry potatoes after cooking, then then they are layered over the pizza with a little olive oil,  arrange a few thin sheets of fresh coral trout (other good white fish will do if you must). Some rosemary, cracked pepper, good flaked sea salt (like Maldons), another drizzle of oli and then let a smoking hot pizza stone and good BBQ do the rest. I love throwing a few rosemary stalks on the BBQ to create some smoke and a nice “wood fired” flavour to any pizza. This was not only easy but an absolute taste sensation and I am hard pressed as to remembering the last time I enjoyed a better Sunday lunch (& I’ve had a few). I have included an instructional “how to” if you want to have a go. The last 2 photos have little to do with the food. One was a matter of inspiration and other was “ Mo” saying , “where’s mine”. Try this. You will love it and it will never be on the menu at work.

Mack Time Now!

It’s mackerel season in the Whitsundays with these amazing fishing showing up in numbers all around the Whitsunday Islands. They do seem to be a bit late this year but are schooling up and relatively easy pickings for those in the know. A fish which is great to catch, fights hard and clean and is sensational on the plate. A lot of visitors are sceptical about the generic term “Mackerel”. Across the world there are many fish called mackerel, and particularly through Europe and the UK as well as the southern states of Australia mackerel are a small, oily fish with dark red flesh and strong fishy flavour and are a bit of an acquired taste. In Northern Australia however, our mackerel, more particularly the Spanish mackerel, is a prized catch and wonderful eating fish. Clean white flesh, flaky texture and mild flavour it is the staple of the upmarket fish & chip trade, (at least it is for good fish and chip shops not tempted by cheap imports like Basa) and mackerel steaks on a hot BBQ are an absolute treat, and, if it ever came to it and I could only ever have 1 more fish meal, this would be it. If you get a chance to cook a mackerel steak, treat it like beef. Rub with a little oil, season and then cook on a really hot grill so each side is sealed. 3 minutes or so on each side (depending on thickness). Our principle commercial fisherman Trevor Draper came back in on Friday from a few days at sea and we have some beautiful mackerel steaks on special for the next few days. We also have some long tail tuna caught by Keith Brennan in Repulse Bay as well as Coral Trout, Red emperor and lots of local Barramundi. I did get out myself on Friday for a quick fish and as well as nailing a nice Mack, picked up a whopper Coral trout which will sometimes grab a mackerel bait when you troll a bit too close to the reef edge. They are always big trout and a “very nice in deed” by-catch.

Father's day and the annual Mud Crab drought

Alas the sad time of the year again when the mud crabs disappear to sea to breed and an annual crab drought starts. Friday the Sydney market price hit $78 a kg as the supply/demand curve ramps up and this morning one of our local commercial crabbers sold me what may well be our last couple of boxes of the year. All our chili crab lovers get in quick. We got about 35 crabs today and that will just about be that till they come back in again, usually in mid-December and just in time for Christmas.

Today being father’s day I am going to have my all-time favourite lunch. Crab sandwiches on fresh crusty white bread, lots of butter, crispy lettuce, cracked pepper and a squeeze of lemon. At current Sydney market prices these will run to about $30 a sandwich, but I’m worth it. It was also my old dad’s favourite all time lunch as well so I might even have another one, in his memory on Father’s day.

The muddies disappear at the busiest time of the year, which is a real drag as the quietest time of the year, May/June are just about when they are their most plentiful. Prices go as low as $18 a kg and will peak in October, maybe even as high as $100 a kg this year as high end demand well and truly outstrips the meagre supply. Based on usual restaurant margins this will see them selling in high end Sydney restaurants for upwards of $300 per crab. Makes it hard to justify, particularly when we can still sneak out and get the odd one for the cost of a bit of boat fuel.

Mud crabs only live for 3 years and the big old "bucks" don't go to sea. If you really want to catch a crab in the next few months, try the small creeks out around the islands. You won't get many, but what you do get will be monsters. The photo on the blog is one from Shaw Island in November 2 years ago. It was 2.2kgs. On Sydney prices a $200 crab.

We will substitute mud crabs with some beautiful local bay bugs through till Christmas. These are in great supply as a by catch of the tiger prawn fishery off Bowen which is having a bumper year so all is not lost.

Shagged out!

Another “Shaggers” (Shag Island Cruising Yacht Club Rendezvous) is over and this year, amongst the fun the organisation managed to raise $103,000 for the Prostate cancer foundation. It was just such a great sense of community, shared purpose and open hearts from all the boating community and many of the residents of the Cape Glouster community as well as they rallied behind Ken, Rhonda and their team to bring the event to reality. To Chris and his team at Monties and all the volunteers I can say that being in the Food and Beverage industry I know full well how much planning and logistics go into major events and to pull this off so seamlessly was an enormous credit to all involved.

To have multi-millionaires off 100 foot superyachts, rubbing shoulders, and sharing a simple sausage in bread BBQ on Shag Island, with people who had come in simple tinnie’s or 20 foot trailer sailors, speaks volumes for just how easily boating brings people together and the common good of knowing we got to have a great time and help raise so much money, for such an important cause, made it all the more special.

The whole event was captured this year by the channel 7 Creek to Coast crew so we can expect to see “Shaggers” on TV sometime soon and I just see the future of the SICYC and the annual rendezvous getting bigger and even better into the future. Great food, great company, great music and the Saturday night “Parrot Head Party” and accompanying fireworks was a hoot.

We got to follow up the weekend with a night up a little creek in Sinclair bay, complete with a feed of black pepper mud crab and some lovely whiting.

If you own a boat, any boat, or even want to own a boat, one day, join up and become a member (and vice commodore) of the SICYC. Just google the web site and go from there. As it grows each year into what is quickly becoming the most fun you can have on the water.

So, onto the photos I have used. The "dunny seat" we brought at the auction will be in the gents at Fish D'Vine very soon so members can all pop in for a bit of an SICYC fix and I posted a picture of Moet the wonder dog which pretty much captures how I was feeling by the end. Absolutely, wonderfully shagged out.

"Shaggers" next week

Not much on the fishing front of late as we work through the busiest and best time of the year in the Whitsundays. Reef festival, Airlie Beach race week, Hamilton Island race Week, Fun race, Shaggers and peak wedding season it is just a 2 month long party and very much work time. The Shag Island Cruising Yacht club rendezvous (shaggers) is held each year at Monties on the northern end of the Whitsundays and will attract some 200 plus vessels for a week-long festival of fun, culminating in a huge “parrot head party” (google it if you must) with fireworks and all the trimmings. SICYC also has a critical and serious role to play raising many 10’s of 1000’s of dollars each year for the Prostate cancer foundation and our company is proud to have supported it with a $5,000 donation this year. We are planning to attend Shaggers for a couple of nights again this year and also planning to spend Sunday and Sunday night checking out a little seldom visited creek in Sinclair Bay. Barra, Jacks, Fingermark and Whiting are all on the target list and maybe a feed of muddies as well. It might just be a great alternative to my favourite Hill Inlet anchorage so I will do a post and trip report when I’m back. In the mean time I have posted a picture of a GT caught last week only one of only 2 days fishing so far for the month of August. A beast of a thing and let go after the photo to monster someone else. Too busy but not complaining….I could be working in a city.

The boats in and menu is set

A nice chilly morning to be snooping around a cold room picking out the best of yesterday’s catch, but well worth the effort, and the menu has now taken shape. As our regional food culture grows, we like to know more and more about the providence of our food, and like interacting with passionate suppliers, we have seen the growth of boutique supplier’s right through the area.

While supermarkets still get the bulk of the business it is great to see the likes of Stewart Drive butchers kicking goals, the Prickly Pineapple working direct with local growers and seafood outlets like Matt at Whitsunday Seafood’s in Carlo Drive offering direct boat to consumer service with staff who actually know about the fish, where it comes from, how it was caught and by which commercial fisherman.

It is far, far removed from the “imported and thawed for your convenience” product in the supermarket windows, served by staff, who, while friendly and professional, have no vested interest in the providence of the seafood they are selling.

I am very proud that our company deals with all these boutique suppliers and the menu presented is a combination of the very best I could source locally and even some basil from my own garden. If you’re a shopper and really want to know about what it is you are putting on the table, do yourself a favour and start shopping with these boutique suppliers for some of your shopping. What you think might be time consuming and inconvenient will fast become a pleasure, dealing with people who love what they have to sell and not being shoved into an impersonal automated check-out.

The Menu for Sunday lunch

Course 1.

Char Grilled Red Claw Crayfish. Green Pawpaw, coriander and chilli Salad w/ crispy fried Kaffir Leaves.

Using Local grown Red Claw from Eungella, Green Pawpaw salad from Pawpaw’s we buy at the markets every Saturday and some lime leaves from the Prickly Pineapple. I will have a cray pot and give some tips on how to catch these tasty fresh water crays in Proserpine dam.

Course 2.

Grilled Largemouth Nannygai & Small Mouth Nannygai on roasted tomato sugo and lime hollandaise

Try the 2 local nannygai side by side and compare. They are same family but miles apart in flavour and texture. The large Mouth Nanny is also marketed as crimson snapper and saddle tail, while the small mouth nanny is also (and usually) marketed as ruby emperor. A rose by any other name these are both delicious and simply cooked to allow their flavours to shine.

Course 3.

Moroccan tagine of Red Emperor w/ Chickpeas, Bay Leaves and saffron

This dish, a version of which was the star of the show at my first bait to plate lunch needs a good dense flaky white fish and red emperor is perfect. It is also a chance to showcase the fresh locally grown bay leaves I found at “The Pineapple” today.

Course 4.

Char Grilled Spanish Mackerel Steak with Vine Ripened Bowen Tomatoes & Smoked Garlic & Basil Pesto sauce

Nothing goes better with fish that fresh, vine ripened, room temperature tomatoes and nothing goes with tomatoes like basil. Add in some of the smoked garlic, some good olive oil and a grind of black pepper and this is as good a fish dish as I will ever cook. I will make the pesto fairly runny, more a sauce than a dip.

Course 5 .

Steamed Garlic & Ginger Coral Trout

Ginger from west of Bowen, fresh and bright, not the dry sad supermarket variety marries with steamed Coral trout like nothing else. We will glaze with some smoking hot sesame oil just as it leaves the kitchen and serve on some steamed bok choy.

Course 6.  

Panko crumbed, pan fried Red Throat Emperor w/ retro crunchy potato gems and Zesty lemon mayo.

This is a great fish and panko crumbs have become the only crumbs I ever use at home these days. We will tizzy them up, I will talk the recipe and “potato gems” are just a blast from the past. I remember them fondly from my childhood and only recently rediscovered them in the supermarket last year. There is now always a packet (or 2) in my freezer at home because I am addicted to them. A tray in a hot oven for 10 minutes has become a go too snack after a long night at work. Probably not much good for the diet but who cares. Nothing has calories on a Sunday anyway.

Course 7.

Lemon curd tart

Just because last time we needed a dessert and what else should we have after fish but something lemony.

A Sea of Red

My fisherman are due back in this afternoon with a great catch of deep water “Red Fish” and Jamie from the Prickly Pineapple has just sent me of photo of the best Vine Ripened local tomatoes he has had all year. My first job was actually picking tomatoes, far too many years ago, it was good hard manual labour and looking back, a really great experience, but I do know most tomatoes are picked very green so that they have sufficient shelf life for packing, cold storage and transport. Tomatoes ripened on the vine, in the field, take on a flavour and aroma so intense that it is almost like a different species to what we get in the supermarkets. Everyone who travels to Italy always talks about the smell and flavour of the tomatoes. If you want to know what that actually is, but can’t afford to go to Italy, head to the Prickly Pineapple, or come to the bait to plate lunch. Tomatoes and fish are a great combination and I will come up with something which gives us a true taste of just how good a combination our local fisherman and local vegetable growers can produce. I am working on my menu now and will post it tomorrow after I view the catch and pick out the stars for the show.