kitchen talk: may-august: the world on a plate

Over the next few months, the fridaynightdinnerbox delivery routine will again be put on hold...

A water colour of lemons arrived in the post recently, a card containing an invitation to come & join friends in Portugal for a great celebration of love & food & travel. With tickets booked, adventures planned & a project or two in the making, the time has come to pack my bags & fly away once more. 

Any excuse to brush down the tuxedo & add a fresh shine to my Italian leather boots is always welcomed, but packed along side these essentials will of course be my knife roll & apron, as the opportunity to get into the kitchen is never far from my thoughts. Naturally, these travels will see me once more gathering inspiration for fridaynightdinnerbox menus, recommencing upon my return. 

My journey includes several stop-offs throughout South East Asia before arriving in Europe, then again on my return home. Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, & Hong Kong, are on the itinerary, as is Thailand. I hope to dine at chef David Thompson's restaurant, Nahm, in Bangkok, spending time then in Prachuap Khirikhan, in the south of Thailand, before going north to Chiang Mai, my home away from home, where close friend & fellow chef Mim Deeburee runs a small guesthouse called Spicy House, cooking from the heart each night for her guests, except on Sundays when the old city is filled to over-flowing for the Sunday market & street food can be found skewered sizzled steamed smoked & grilled on every corner, down every alley, inside every temple courtyard, a festival of feasting every which way you go: a-ròi-hàw!

Arriving early in Portugal in the days before other guests arrive is really all about the serious business of food. Being in Alentejo means there's a certain secret to be discovered, Secreto Ibérico from the region's Cerdo Ibérico Pata Negra, a breed of black pig, acorn fed & delicious...but more about that later, when the time comes. Other stops include the Nederlands, eating oilebollen in Amsterdam, & France, with plenty of pâtissierie in Paris, then a trip to Cadenet & hopefully Reine Sammut's La Fenière, the two-star Michelin restaurant where good friend & fellow chef Brodie Bennett first began to cook. Friends & food & travel is a fine way to spend ones time. 

However, there is one more part of this journey, & with it the beginning of a whole new project. The Camino de Santiago, the 900km pilgrimage across the north of Spain to Santiago de Compostella, once more beckons. The plan is to cross the Pyrenees through into San Sebastian this time & take the Camino del Norte as far as Galacia, possibly even all the way to Muxia, that final destination on the Costa da Morte where my last pilgrimage finished. As much about the food as the journey itself this time, special attention will be given to the cuisine of the regions through which the peregrino pathways wind their way. Combining a history of pilgrimage with that of culture & food, I hope to begin work on a book of sorts...eating my way across spain, then walking it off!

So, while my fridaynightdinnerboxes will be on hold until my return, regular posts will continue. I look forward to sharing my adventures online, through recipes of dishes I share with those I meet along the way.