Photograph: Tim Robinson

That’s me and ‘Tets’ -  or Tetsuya Wakuda for those who haven’t met him! He’s a world-famous chef and owner of the equally world-famous restaurant Tetsuya’s in Sydney.

Last week I had the privilege of being invited to attend one of his extremely coveted Masterclasses (he only does 12 a year!). I have to immediately give a big warm thank you to Electrolux, Open Haus PR (especially Nicole) and of course, Tetsuya for inviting me. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime, dream experience.

Guess what? You can win a chance to do it too!

Don’t rub your eyes, you read that right. Fig & Cherry and Electrolux are giving you the chance to attend an exclusive Masterclass with Tetsuya. Competition details are at the end of this post… Don’t want to wait? ENTER NOW!

For those of you who can wait, let me tell you about the evening… [Read more →]

Looking for an exclusive ‘pop up’ event? Look no further!

A friend of mine (well, actually, my brother-in-law’s fiance’s brother’s girlfriend – can you see why I just said ‘friend’? ) is travelling across the globe from Paris to Sydney for a very exciting food event.

Rachel Khook is British (but lives in Paris) and is putting on the event with her fellow British mate Frankie Unsworth (who lives in Sydney) – confused yet? – in a secret location in the Eastern suburbs for 3 nights only on the 12th, 13th and 14th of March. [Read more →]

05/03/10 UPDATE: Winners announced!

A big thank you to everyone for entering this competition, it was extremely hard to choose because there were so many good entries!

Congratulations to these creative winners:

• Lena A (I love poems!)
• Rhonda Taylor (You had me at ‘Longrain ago’, very clever.)
• Natalie (Great idea to make a little recipe from the names, love it!)

Please expect a confirmation email from me soon so I can get your address to post you the tickets. [Read more →]

Lamb back strap with green olive couscous

I recently made this recipe for my online gourmet butcher client Butcherman for their monthly email newsletter. It’s always such a joy to cook with their delicious meat.

As you can see, the lamb was very juicy and it went really well with the Moroccan flavours in the couscous.

I have to admit that I didn’t make the couscous in the traditional way (like I learnt at that excellent cooking course in Morocco) as my brief was to make something quick to throw together while the lamb cooked on the BBQ.

Never-the-less it’s a great combination of flavours and is super simple to make. Just like 99% of my recipes here on Fig & Cherry!

If you’re not a lamb lover then the couscous also goes really well with fish or prawns thanks to the tangy preserved lemon kick and fresh herbs. [Read more →]