Books for Better Eating ~ Bill's Open Kitchen and Taste (Pure & Simple)

Bill's Open Kitchen, published in 2003. Fresh, easy and inspiring recipes from the Sydney based restauranteur.

Breakfast is up first, beginning with a few "full" English breakfast sides ~ updated for today's tastes: garlic mushrooms, roast tomatoes and crisp bacon curls, followed by buckwheat or coconut pancakes, Turkish eggs (yogurt, eggs, olive oil & spinach), porridge with brown sugar peaches and ham & Gruyere French toast. For Lunch a few of the options are honey lemon chicken wings with lentil feta salad, prawn skewers with rice salad, Vietnamese chicken salad, citrus risotto with garlic chili prawns, onion & feta tart, BBQ duck salad, pan-fried fish with lemon potato salad and spicy squid salad.

Afternoon Tea offers apricot slice, coconut & lime macadamia cake, honey cheesecake, mandarin chocolate cake, banana maple upside down cake and orange & cardamon biscuits, while Dinner consists of rice paper rolls, saffron chicken skewers, lobster with lime butter, fish burritos, marinated lamb, whole BBQ fish, chickpea stew, stuffed roast chicken, roasted soy chicken, beef & mushroom pot pies, glazed duck and coconut fish.

We end with Desserts ~ baked brown sugar custards, blueberry trifle, passion fruit crepes, white chocolate mousse with raspberry trifle and semi freddo with caramel figs.

Taste (Pure & Simple), published in 2003. Healthy organic cooking based on seasonal ingredients.

We begin with Appetizers which include sauteed scallops with creamy corn sauce, tamari shrimp & scallops, white bean dip, fresh tuna & radish salad and roasted root vegetables& baby greens, then move on to Soups and Salads which consist of sweet corn & vegetable chowder, celery root & tofu salad, pan roasted garlic & spinach salad and green tomatoes with Vidalia onion garnish.

Fish and Shellfish offers grilled snapper with ginger & lemongrass, miso salmon, pan roasted cod, crab cakes with papaya & jicama salad and grilled prawns with fennel & onions, while Poultry and Meats encompasses roasted chicken breast with dinosaur plums sauce, roast turkey with sweet potato gravy, pan roasted quail, coriander breast of duck, rack of lamb with pomegranate-date chutney, beef tenderloin with wild mushrooms & potatoes and bison cube steaks.

Moving on we encounter Vegetarian Entrees which are comprised of sweet potato & root vegetable gratin, winter vegetable stew, sweet pea, corn & mushroom risotto and vegetable lasagna, followed by Sides which incorporate grilled asparagus, lightly salted edamame, garlic wilted spinach and charred bok choy.

A few of the Breakfast dishes are squash pancake, veggie hash, granola or oatmeal with apricots & figs, with Desserts featuring a flour-less hazelnut cake, almond polenta cake, cardamon shortbread and sweet potato brulee,

We close out the recipes with Basics, including fire roasted sweet pepper sauce, red or golden beet syrup, garlic (roasted), chicken glaze and addition to the usual stocks offerings we are also given instructions for the following stocks ~ roasted corn, mushroom, spring garlic and ham hock.