Jonah's, Whale's Beach NSW

As I travel so frequently, I am asked why I don't post more about my adventures. Well, that is a great suggestion, so I will start including some of my favorites places and restaurants to start the ball rolling.

Here is one of my favorites places in Australia. It is called Jonah's and it is in an idyllic spot called Whale's Beach just north of Sydney. If you want to really enjoy the trip to Jonah's, then go by seaplane from Rose Bay like we did. Very cool indeed.

The menu is heavy on stunning seafood and the desserts are to die for. This seared Barrimundi with Prawns, was flawless.

And to round it off, we shared a Raspberry Soufflé. I am not normally a big fan of soufflés, as I have had so many which were sub par, but this one was off the charts.

Jonah's also has wonderful accommodation and is the only Relais & Chateaux hotel in Sydney. Well worth a visit and many thanks to our friends that treated us to this fantastic experience.

Comments

Norfolk Style Seafood

This is such a good recipe and so simple to make. The story behind this recipe is interesting. When I was a young boy, we used to go to a seafood restaurant in Washington DC called O'Donnell's. They had wonderful food, and most importantly, they had Buck.

Buck was a gentle giant at 6' 2" and was always talking to me about his recipe. He had invented this style of cooking seafood and had even developed special pans which could be used over open flame and then it could be delivered to the tables still sizzling. He was rightfully very proud of this.

After being there quite a few times, Buck shared his recipe with me and told me to keep it a secret. Since this was over 40 years ago, I guess I can reveal it now.

Ingredients

1/2 lb Shrimp, Jumbo Lump Crab or Langoustines, raw and shelled
2 Tbsp Butter
2 cloves Garlic, chopped
Dash of Old Bay Seasoning
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
Few dashes of Tabasco
Splash of White Wine
Salt and Black Pepper

Heat your pan until fairly hot, then add butter an…

Oven Roasted Salmon

This has to be one of the easiest and best tasting recipes I have. I developed it so I could always pull together a healthy dinner in a few minutes and then have beautiful cold salmon leftovers for the next day.

All you need is a nice piece of fresh salmon and a few basic spices. The real key is to get the oven very hot, so it sears the outside of the salmon and locks in the juices.

Ingredients

2 lb filet of Fresh Salmon, skin on is best, but not essential.
Celery Salt
Dill Weed
Roasted Garlic Powder
Freshly ground Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Butter
Parchment Paper

Preheat your oven to 550F. Take your parchment paper and put it onto a 1/2 sheet baking pan and lay your salmon onto the paper.

Melt your butter and brush it onto the salmon filet. Sprinkle on your spices to taste and bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the salmon. Remove and allow it to rest for 3 minutes before serving. It goes well with the seafood rice pilaf I featured in an earlier post.

Note: All of these spices can be…

Vegetarian Sichuan Dry Sautéed Green Beans - Gan Bian Si Ji Dou

I can honestly say that this is my favorite Sichuan dish, second only to MaPo Tofu. I’ve eaten it many times, but had never made it. Well, that has changed. This was really incredible.

I found so many different recipes, but sort of merged a Fuchsia Dunlop recipe and a Wok of Life recipe to create this vegetarian version, which replaces the standard ground pork with Shiitake mushrooms. I’m very happy with how it turned out.

Ingredients

1 pound Green Beans, trimmed.
1 cup Vegetable Oil
1 Tbsp Ginger, minced
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 tsp Sichuan Peppercorns, crushed
2 Tien Tsin Chilis, crushed
2 ounces dried Shiitake Mushrooms, soaked in hot water and chopped.
1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 drop of Liquid Smoke
1/4 teaspoon sugar
Dash of Toasted Sesame Oil

You will want to prepare everything up front, because the cooking time is very quick.

Start your wok and pour your oil in the wok. Once it is up to temperature, add your green beans and cook them for 6 to 7 minut…

The Louisville Chef

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