Recently a friend of mine had the misfortune of being diagnosed with throat cancer. After 5 weeks of radiation she is on her way to recovery and been given a clean report. She's kept a great sense of humour about her. For example when asked what she got for Christmas she replies, "Cancer!" That being said she has been finding it very difficult to eat anything that doesn't have the consistency of baby food and the worst thing is that she still has her sense of smell and an appetite but has a hard time swallowing and tasting anything.

Last night she and her husband were over for dinner and I really wanted her to enjoy this mini-celebratory "hey, look at me, I've finished radiation therapy" dinner. Not wanting to serve her mushy peas, I decided to modify my famous Prawn Pernod Linguine. It was a hit and she managed to work her way through a good sized plate between sips of her cocktail - baking soda and water!

So if you ever find yourself in need of cooking for someone with a raw throat, no taste buds and little saliva here's the recipe for you! And of course it's also a great recipe for those people fortunate enough to be in great health!

Prawn Pernod

Serves 4
Preparation Time 5 minutes
Cooking Time 10 minutes
Note: To help my guest swallow more easily I finely chopped the prawns into small pieces. You can omit this step for regular use.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 small shallots, finely minced
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 500g uncooked prawns (shrimp) - 31-40 bag count, peeled and deveined
• 2-3 tbsp Pernod
• 1/4 cup white wine
• pinch saffron
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

1. In a medium saute pan, heat butter and oil over medium heat. When melted, add the shallots and cook until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
2. Add the prawns, sauteing until prawns are just cooked through and turned pink, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the pernod. If using a gas stove, tilt pan to flame pernod. If using electric, light sauce with match. Shake pan or stir continuously until flame slowly dies out.
4. Add wine and saffron. Reduce heat to low and cook until sauce reduces down slightly, about 2-3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Just prior to serving, add whipping cream, stirring until incorporated.
6. Serve over fresh cooked linguine or steamed rice. Garnish with parsley.

Avocados are a funny fruit. Not the most attractive thing nature ever created but certainly one of the most delicious and creamy ones in my opinion. Once a luxury food reserved for the tables of royalty, the humble avocado is now available year round for everyone to enjoy.

The one stumbling block for people is how to get the pit or stone out of the centre. Recently I was typing up a recipe for use in one of my cooking classes that called for a sliced avocado. As an afterthought I included a tips section on how to remove the pit as that is the one question most people ask me when we are dealing with this bumpy bulb. It's easy and once you get the hang of it I'm sure you'll find that you'll include it's creamy flesh in more and more dishes.

To pit an avocado, run a sharp knife around the entire length of the avocado reaching the pit with each incision. Twist the two avocado halves in opposite direction and pull apart. Take a sharp chef knife and gently rap the blade into the pit. Twist the knife while gently pulling on it. Using a cloth for protection grab the pit and pull from knife and discard.

To keep the halves whole, simply take a soup spoon and place the side of the spoon between the skin and flesh. Move the spoon completely around the avocado and scoop out the half.

To dice an avocado in the skin, take a paring knife and slice through the flesh down to but not through the skin length wise. Repeat about 1/2 inch apart 3 times. Then repeat this cut but horizontally. Then using the same method as removing the halves, simple scoop out the flesh and the avocado should come out in diced pieces.

To slice an avocado, either scoop out a half as per above and place the half flat side down on a cutting board and slice or use the dice method but only make length wise cuts and scoop out.