Q. Friends unexpectedly drop by and you ask them to stay for dinner. What do you cook?
A. Roast Barossa chook with verjuice, a big salad of greens from our garden, roast potatoes with preserved lemon and then a whole cheese with a matching fruit paste to finish.

Q. What's the best recipe you've ever come up with?
A. Duck egg pasta — superbly silky!

Q. What's your favourite Friday night meal?
A. We've been doing research and development on soups over the last couple of weeks, so it's been the perfect chance to continue the "research" at home on Friday nights. Definitely too cold to go out in the Valley at the moment!

Q. What's your secret indulgence food?
A. Sea urchin.

Q. What food couldn't you live without?
A. Verjuice.

Q. What's your favourite health food?
A. Extra-virgin olive oil.

Q. If you could have five foods on a desert island, what would they be?
A. Good salt for the fish I'd catch, extra virgin olive oil, verjuice, bitter chocolate and macadamias. I'd be completely lost to cook without at least a few of these, if not deeming all of them essentials.

Q. What dish do you wish you could cook really well?
A. Scones. They've always eluded me! I'm okay when it comes to the jam to go on them though.

Q. What's the most memorable meal you've eaten overseas?
A. One of the most memorable but also one of the simplest ... deep-fried artichokes in Rome.

Q. What food would you quite happily never eat again?
A. Compound chocolate.

Q. What's one ingredient you always have in your pantry?
A. Verjuice.