06:30PM
THE COOK AND THE CHEF

The Cook and the Chef is back for a new season of delicious cooking. Both Maggie Beer and Simon Bryant are raring to go and all set to show us fabulous new dishes, while sharing more of their culinary secrets.

The wonderful kitchen in the Barossa Valley remains their cooking-base but this year every episode will feature produce from a different Australian state. And later in the year, Maggie and Simon are off to New Zealand to check out the local produce there.

In the first program for 2008 Maggie and Simon are serving up a refreshing summer feast. Simon is off fishing for barramundi just out of Darwin, while Maggie stays in the Barossa to collect organic raspberries.

On a recent expedition to the Northern Territory, Simon tracked down a beautiful farmed barramundi courtesy of barra farmer Bob Richards. The estuarine barra is one of the few fish that has the flavour and the texture to stand its ground in Simon's spicy, rich, Indian curry.

Meanwhile in the Barossa, February is the month for second flush raspberries and local grower Cheryl Stevens shows Maggie why the raspberry is such a delicate fruit. Maggie makes the most of them being on her doorstep by putting them with cream to adorn and flavour a spectacular but foolproof sponge cake.