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Lowtide


Galley Essentials with Amanda


Amanda enjoying an apricot slice on a Sydney ferry.


A few months back,


enroute to Mahina Tiare, we flew into my old stomping grounds of Sydney, Australia, on a visit with good sailing friends and past expedition members Gary and Anne who recently moved there. Upon meeting us at the airport, they suggested we swing by the Sydney Fish Market in the upper harbour to grab some fresh catch. This place is impressive; it’s a working market that auctions over 100 species daily making it the world’s second largest seafood market in terms of variety outside of Japan. Along with hosting six seafood retailers and a variety of stores the SFM is also home to Australia’s leading cooking school; The Sydney Seafood School. Once Gary and Anne settle into Sydney life they plan to be two of the 12,000 guests that attend classes yearly there and in true Aussie fashion, it’s not surprising that the most popular class, scheduled over six times a month to keep up with demand, is seafood BBQ. In short order we loaded up with sumptuous seafood and a pile of recipes that included this refreshing crab salad.


Crab Salad


5 cups cooked crab 1 avocado - sliced 1 green mango, papaya or jicama - shredded


bunch snow peas sprouts 1 punnet cherry tomatoes – halved 1 bunch asparagus - cut on the diagonal


⅔ cup coconut milk 2 teaspoons grated ginger 1 small red chili - seeded and chopped 2 tablespoons shredded mint leaves 2 tablespoons lime juice 1 teaspoon fish sauce 48° NORTH, JULY 2011 PAGE 32


Thai Fish on Broccolini 1 tablespoon peanut oil 4 fish fillets - diced 2 garlic cloves - sliced ½ cup palm sugar - grated 2 tablespoons fish sauce 4 kefir lime leaves - shredded 2 spring onions - diced ½ cup toasted peanuts - chopped


2 bunches broccolini - halved lengthwise


Sydney Revisited by Amanda Swan Neal


½ teaspoon grated palm sugar salt to taste Blanch asparagus in boiling water


for 45 seconds. Combine coconut milk with following seven ingredients. Gently toss remaining ingredients, arrange on a platter and pour over dressing. Serves 6.


We spent the evening catching up


and after a restful sleep we were keen to explore the sights of Australia’s oldest, largest and most diverse city. Like an famous uber model, the city wraps itself around the glamorous Sydney Harbour with its alluring maze of sandstone headlands, sleepy bays and world-renowned beaches. Anne, an avid hiker, claims that the Sydney experience is essentially physical and that there’s no better way to explore than by foot and ferry. She’d planned numerous expeditious treks but when the normally fabulous Sydney weather changed tacks to heavy thunderstorms, we chose a more sedate ferry ride to Manly beach and a hike out to North Head. It was a terrific day though, even for wet one and we owe our thanks to a spicy Thai chili at the Manly Pier on our way home.


1¼ cups coriander leaves


1 tablespoon lime juice 1 long red chili - deseeded and thinly sliced Heat oil, sauté fish 3 minutes,


add garlic and cook a further minute. Remove fish and drain on absorbent paper. Add sugar, fish sauce and lime leaves, simmer 3 minutes. Return fish with half the spring onions and peanuts. Cook 2 minutes until mixture is sticky. Meanwhile steam broccolini until just tender. Stir 1 cup coriander leaves into fish with lime juice, remaining spring onion and peanuts. Place broccolini on a platter, top with fish, nuts, remaining coriander and chili. Serves 4.


Finally, the next day we were


treated with sunshine as John and I set off to explore the heart of Sydney. We caught the train into the center city and leapt off at the Queen Victorian Building; an elaborate 1898 Romanesque architectural mall with five levels of exquisite shopping and dinning that fills a city block. As stunning as QVB is, we were a little overwhelmed with the vast number of shoppers and quickly scuttled off to Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour. I’d worked on the construction of Darling Harbour as a rigger and was thrilled to finally see the finished results. We thoroughly enjoyed the Museum exhibits that vividly capture


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