Food Wine Sleep

Fresh sweet mussels dressed with a spicy rich butter dressing. This recipe is a great little dish for the summer patio gathering or barbecue that will ensure you can spend more time with your friends and less time in the kitchen.

It doesn't get much easier than this, pop it all in a pot turn the heat down low, crack a beer and join your friends by the pool. In a couple of hours you'll be wowing them all with your abilities in the kitchen, even though you were barely there.

Although this dish is quintessentially French it is probably more of a consistent feature on the dinner tables of the northeastern region of the country. The beauty of a mussel dish like this is that the mussels (or 'moules') are served absolutely fresh. Mussels are harvested all over the coast of France and then shipped live to the local fishmongers. There they are bought, (still alive), taken home, cleaned and prepared in this simple yet stunning recipe and enjoyed by anyone lucky enough to be present. So the key for you to enjoy this dish is to do the same, and by that I mean: buy only the freshest best live mussels from your local trusted fishmonger. And then simply p...

This dish for me always conjures up memories of long summer nights, nights spent amongst a forest of sailboat masts, glowing orange as they reflected the deep northern sunset. Every Friday for a whole summer myself and my two best mates since high school, John and Trevor would take John's dad's sailboat out onto the Georgia Strait, sailing around just off Vancouver. I remember one Friday in particular we were sailing back from the Gulf Islands, the diminishing light from the never setting sun painting the water a profound blue and the mighty fir trees appearing as mere peach fuzz on the coastal mountains, it had been an amazing day on the water. We were bringing the bo...

This is a dish that I first discovered when working in a traditional Italian Restaurant many years ago. The very un-Italian head Chef was writing the specials menu one Friday afternoon outside the back of the kitchen. In my youthful cockiness I thought that meant it was break time and I went out as well (the orders seemed to be finished). I got out back and saw a few of the specials he had been writing down, I pointed to the prosciutto wrapped salmon filet and I asked him, "Trent, is that really an Italian Dish?" He answered somewhat agitated, "Who gives a *#!* if it is or it isn't, it has Italian ingredients in it and you watch how well it sells tonight...

This recipe comes from a friend of mine; Maria. She is from the beautiful coastal region of Galicia in the North West of Spain. The area is bountiful in many types of delicious seafood and the local's diet and Maria's repertoire clearly represents this. Her seafood recipes are amazing and the stories she tells of her upbringing eating all the wonderful local specialties always makes my mouth water. One such dish that had me salivating when she first told me about it was this one; Pulpo a'la Gallega. Unfortunately when I make it, I break a cardinal rule and serve it on a normal plate as opposed to the traditional wooden plate. I don't think she has yet forgiven me and I am...

This is a recipe that I created a few years back while I was on a quick hiatus on my motorcycle. I was running a very high stress level in the restaurant and decided a quick jaunt down the south coast was in order to stay sane. I spent a day in the saddle with no particular destination and pulled into Hyams Beach on Jervis Bay and decided to call it home for a couple of days. That was as soon as I could find a place that would have me. I asked the lady at the town conveience shop/restaurant where I could find some reasonable accomodation. She directed me to a guest house down the road and told me to tell the owner that she had sent me. I liked this place already, I'd been...

Mussels would have to be one of the most versatile of all seafood's, as long as they are dressed appropriately for the weather they are pretty much heaven year round. In winter there is nothing more comforting than a bowl of them swimming in a steamy Mariniere broth. In summer, as in this dish there is nothing more refreshing, a bowl of freshly steamed mussels, in season Mango salsa, crusty Vienna bread to soak it all up with and a very crisp white wine to wash it all down with. Enjoy.

Fresh fish and fresh herbs, what more could you ask for in a spring dish. Both are complemented perfectly by the addition of a hearty Middle Eastern salad. You will find because the Fattoush is pretty substantial as far as salads go, it can also be eaten as a meal on its own.

Tuna is the world's most popularly eaten fish. Unfortunately much of this huge consumption is aided by millions of can openers and a lot of cheap mayonnaise. Such a shame really as this beautiful fish deserves to be eaten in the state it comes off the fishmongers knife; raw, or as near to as possible. The more you meddle with it the more beauty it loses. That is why it lends itself to carpaccio so well, cut it raw, a little sprinkle of this, a little drizzle of that and serve it.

The first time I had this dish was a few years back. A gang of us went to a Spanish restaurant for a going away dinner for a few of the group that were off to Europe indefinitely. It was a brilliant night with beautiful food, great friends, kitschy flamenco music, lots of sangria and many embarrassing stories from the past. The details are a little sketchy but a couple of things I remember particularly well are; the Restaurant was about the size of a small sailboat with less than 7 tables in all. Despite this it was a very comfortable place, the seating was on wooden benches that resembled church pews and scattered over them were randomly coloured embroidered cushions. Th...