Giant couscous salad

Correctly known as moghrabieh, yet I think giant couscous sounds more fun and needs less explaining. A style of couscous originating from Lebanon, these are much larger and are commonly cooked into brothy soups. I love that they are easy to prepare, textural to eat and look remarkably modern to serve.

Giant couscous salad with pinenuts, lemon zest and pomegranate

Moghrabieh -they swell to double the size so judge accordingly to how much you want as a finished salad

chicken stock (use vegetarian if you prefer)

toasted pinenuts

a lemon; zested and then juiced

pomegranate seeds

spanish onion

red chilli

mint

parsley

Extra virgin olive oil

S+P

Add the giant couscous to enough stock to cover and gently simmer until it is just cooked, a little al dente as the Italians would say is ideal

Drain and while still warm dress with 1/3 lemon juice to 2/3 EVOO, salt and pepper and the roughly chopped herbs

Add all the other ingredients and toss together, taste for extra lemon juice and serve at room temperature

Perfect for a balmy evening like last night.

Safeway tells fibs

"The only fresh baby corn in Australia", Safeways claim on a current television commercial

No, I don't shop at Safeway (unless it is for cheap Coopers)

The new ads on tv for Safeways baby corn make me furious, I am not usually this easily mad but when a multinational takes advantage of a dumbed down eating public, then I get mad. Don't get me wrong, I am sad that people are some what dumbed down about food now, but it is the truth, my great grandmother and grandmother cooked from memory, I don't know if my grandmother even owns a cook book; apart from the Aussie house wife classic "The Common Sense Cookery Book" (and doesn't that title just sum it up...) People now generally have very high food expectations and very low skills or basic knowledge to cook from, it is sad.

I digress, Safeway do not have Australia's only baby corn, I brought some this morning at Gasworks market, and to further thumb my nose at Safeway, I bet mine are fresher and not in unnecessary packaging.

I am still tossing up how to prepare mine, if I stop eating them raw. Perhaps sauteed with anchovies and then melting on top some butter, perhaps slightly pickled and served to nibble on, maybe even... its not important. The important thing is, please don't believe what Safeway tells you about food.

Jack

Bone marrow, again

Oh I just can't help myself.
I had so much fun first time around, I've now eaten this dish again, in Melbourne and again it was attributed to Mr Fergus Henderson himself.
No tricks, it was not at the European again and no, I did not have the pleasure of seeing Fergus cook at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.
So where did I eat his dish of roast bone marrow with a parsley salad and croutons, a la 'St John'?
Any ideas?

I eat, I drink, I work - I do all of that...

Anybody, that has even glanced this page before knows that I am passionate about all of these things, some times the order can get out of whack, but hey that's life!
So it's with pleasure that I let you know that I am a featured blogger on the new hospitality web site

www.ieatidrinkiwork.com.au

The site features interesting bits from other bloggers like me and what will become a hospitality jobs listing site, no more waiting for Tuesday to find out; who wants, what where - if you get my drift... if not just have a look for yourself.
Happy readings

Eclectic produce this week

Fresh nuts are one of the most beautiful things, just like the almonds a few months ago, the flavours are delicate and colours bright. I am usually also surprised at how inexpensive they are, perhaps people don't understand how much of a special delicacy they are and how little time they are around for. These are brand named kiwi berries, essentially just that, mini kiwis with no fury skin, just pop them straight in your month, oh and incredibly cute!
The erratic weather has made my watercress go crazy, it's now trying to grow out of the base of the bay tree pot and into the wild of my untamed garden. Not enough yet for a salad, but a very pretty garnish or a grazing nibble while watering the herbs.
Enjoy the weather while it lasts!

My Gourmet Traveller Experience

What a week!

It was with a healthy dose of nerves that I turned up for my first day on shoot with Gourmet Traveller, the experience I won on Menu for Hope.

I have to say the nerves lasted five minutes and then I was in the thick of it, and loving it.

I met some fantastic people, Emma Knowles, Gourmets Food Director was lovely and even prepared lunch for everyone the second day. Adelaide Lucas, (assistant food editor), that spent most of her day preparing the recipes from scratch, was inspiring in her speed and ability to answer my questions at the same time. I also quickly met Lisa Featherby (food editor) as she popped in.

On the shoot also was photographer Will Meppem, quiet yet very effective and props stylist Megan Morton, whom was fantastic at sharing some little secrets along the way.

The shoot was for the upcoming May editions cute little cookbook, the one that is attached to the cover each year.
Over the two days the team shot about 15 food images and a few extras that would be used for those pretty pages that the recipes or indexes may end up on.
Having worked as a freelance food stylist, I have some experience in a professional studio but I have to say nothing I have experienced before was like this. Emma and the team worked in the most harmonious, collaborative calm the entire time. No strange stylist techniques were used apart from a bit of bluetak (and that was not even on the food...), the food is as real and delicious as it looks, nothing was 'mucked' with just pure good food, very well cooked and styled and photographed with the utmost care.
I was truly impressed at how 'cheffy' the food was cared for, (it should be noted that both Emma and Adelaide are qualified chefs), the processes they went through involved also giving the recipe another run through to make sure it works perfectly for readers.
The image above is a shot in action, multiple angles were considered, over head is what is happening here, with the 'props' cream in a bowl, napkin and side in different balanced positions around the 'hero'.

I can't thank the entire Gourmet traveller team enough and of course Anthea Loucas the Editor for donating the prize.

Please feel free to fire off any questions that you may like to know about the shoot, I would love to share as much about this as possible.
The rest of my week was spent back in Melbourne mostly involved in the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival events. The Masterclasses have been inspiring, I can't wait to tell you about it, and tomorrow is Out of the Frying Pan, about food and the media. I attended last year also, and found it to be of the highest quality of food discussion, tomorrow the strange thing is that I am participating as a panelist about food blogs along with Ed and Stephanie. I know a few food bloggers will be there, so I look forward to some support from the audience, wish me -us- luck!

Edited - 4th March

A new me

Welcome to the new fancy looking Eating with Jack, a little less perfunctory and a lot more stylish.
Designed by the gracious Susie at Bluebird Blogs, who has been putting up with all my anal requests (still perhaps a few more to come as well, sorry Susie!).

So what do you think?