Italian Beef Burger

This burger is bursting with Italian flavours, oregano, basil, parmesan and tomato. An addition of 2 tsp minced garlic will enforce the essence of Italy.

Cream Tarts with Profiteroles

We all appreciate a good cream cake and this one has a crispy base, fresh fruit, cream, custard and everyone’s favourite shiny crackling chocolate covered filled profiterole.

Strawberry Éclairs

An éclair is a finger long baked pastry shell made from piped choux paste filled with a soft sweet or savoury paste and decorated on top. A strawberry éclair is an airy pastry shell filled with vanilla custard mixed with cream, strawberries and topped with icing sugar.

Chocolate Éclairs

An éclair is a finger long baked pastry shell made from piped choux paste filled with a soft sweet or savoury paste and decorated on top. A traditional chocolate éclair (Éclair au Chocolat) is a shell filled with vanilla custard mixed with cream and topped with a chocolate icing. Chocolate éclairs are delicious, mouthwatering and tasteful desserts which are easy to make in your own home.

Basic Choux Pastry

Choux pastry (pâte à choux) is a cooked mixture of fat, flour and water or milk with maybe some sugar and salt into which eggs are beaten. Cooked choux pastry is light, crisp on the outside, airy and moist on the inside. This is an excellent basic choux pastry which works every time and is especially good for small pastry shells.

Lime Coriander and Ginger Schnitzel with Braised Potatoes

Lime is consumed in numerous eatables and the oil extracted from the skin is extensively used in soft drink concentrates, cosmetics, disinfectants and countless other products. Lime is valued in cooking both for the acidity of the juice and the floral aroma of the zest. Limes are a good source of vitamin C and are often used to accent the flavours of foods and beverages. The compounds found in the fragrant oils extracted from lime stimulate the digestive system and increase secretion of digestive juices while the flavonoids break down the macro molecules of the food.

Chicken Ginger and Lime Meatballs with Spicy Pecan Pilaf

The ginger plant is most famous for its flavorsome root however the leaves are are also edible and have the same flavor but are less pungent. They have high levels of antioxidants which make them a nutritional addition to dishes.

Featuring Peter Joakim Immerschmitt’s “BBQ Whole Baked Snapper”

Born in Munich, Germany I later immigrated to Australia where I now live in Putney with my beautiful wife Brenda and my wonderful son Sam. As a young boy I watched my mother in the kitchen while she prepared food, however my main interest in cooking started when I left home and had to feed myself. The social aspect of cooking on a BBQ is what I enjoy most plus I can make good tasting steaks and kebabs etc., accompanied by a nice salad with plenty of dressing. The satisfied feeling of seeing my family and friends enjoying the food I have prepared for them is always good. There is not too much cleaning up to be done using the BBQ unlike the usual pots and pans when cooking in a kitchen.

I predominantly like my Bavarian cookbook where I find inspiration and good recipes. My regular comfort food would have to be Thai chicken fried rice with lots of chilli flakes, however I do enjoy making pancakes or ham noodles with my son Sam.. My most favourite kitchen tool is my tongs,  salt, pepper and Chilli are the main ingredients in my pantry. Any form of dry or fresh Chilli is an ingredient I can’t get enough of. My favourite chef is my brother in law Alex as he cooks the most amazing food and mouth watering desserts. On a recent visit to Emerald Beach at Christmas I think I must have gained at least four kilo from eating all the beautiful meals he prepared. My favourite classic recipe is Ham Noodle known as “Schinken Nudel” in Germany.

The current trend I see in the restaurants is there are many open kitchens which I don’t particularly like. The noise of the chefs at work deter from the relaxed ambiance I like to experience when dining out with family and friends. I can recall a kitchen incident at home, when my wife Brenda was making potatoes and left the pot unattended for some time. Returning to the kitchen and find the pot had no water remaining and the potatoes were almost unidentifiable. I think we might have ended up eating pancakes that night!!

BBQ Whole Baked Snapper

Beef Vindaloo

Vindaloo is an Indian curry dish from the region of Goa and is renowned as a particularly spicy dish. The name is derived from the Portuguese dish "Carne de Vinha d' Alhos", which is a dish of meat with wine and garlic. It was initially modified by the replacing wine with vinegar and the addition of red Kashmir chilies.

Jasmine Coconut Rice

Jasmine rice, known as Thai Hom Mali is a fragrant long grain rice variety from Thailand with a nutty aroma and  subtle flavour. The grains will cling when cooked and the trick is to use minimal water, therefore the rice is steamed rather than boiled. The rice always requires to be rinsed before cooking.

Chicken Leek and Asparagus

Leeks are the gentle members of the onion family and blend tastefully with other vegetable flavours. Similar to garlic and onions they belong to a vegetable family called the Allium vegetables which have a mild onion-like taste. The flavour might be described as a mixture of a mild onion and a cucumber with a fresh smell similar to scallion. They give intensity to casseroles and sauces and are available throughout the year, it is during Autumn that the sweet gentle flavours of leeks are at their subtle best. Leeks delicate flavour means they will not overpower additional ingredients in a dish.

Black Forest Cake

Black Forest gateau, Black Forest cake or Black Forest cherry torte is accurately a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. The combination of cooked cherries, cream and Kirsch is recognized in the Black Forest as dessert. The Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte was first mentioned in writing in "250 Konditorei - Spezialitäten und wie sie entstehen" - J.M. Erich Weber, Dresden 1934 and in 1949 it took 13th place in the list of best known German cakes. Normally a Black Forest cake is layers of Kirschwasser infused chocolate cake, whipped cream and cherries, decorated with whipped cream, maraschino cherries and chocolate shavings.

Three Berry Trifle

Traditional trifle is a dessert arranged in layers consisting of custard, fruit, sponge cake, fruit juice or gelatin and whipped cream. The hero of this Three Berry Trifle is Madagascar Vanilla custard. You will have to dig with the spoon all the way to the bottom, which means you will automatically get the other flavours on the spoon as well. A short bread biscuit serve with this trifle brings an additional texture with more flavour to this dessert.

Pecan and Mango Shortbread Biscuits

Shortbread has its name because of its crumbly texture high fat content, provided by the butter. The word “shortening” refers to any fat that may be added to dough producing a short or crumbly texture.

Butternut Pumpkin Cheese and Herb Damper

The sweet flavour and orange colour from butternut squash is ideal for Australian dampers. Butternut squash is in Australia accepted as a pumpkin. It has a yellow skin with orange fleshy pulp and it turns increasingly deep orange when ripe. Cook or bake the squash the day before or microwave on high for 5 minutes until soft and then puree. The most important things in making excellent scones and dampers are to use cold ingredients and not to over mix the dough.