The legendary Australian musician and his wife provided a three-course dinner inspired by their own home-cooked dishes-with a sparkling flavour

One night, when we came home from a tour and found that there was no wine to make Coq au vin, we created this recipe. However, we do have a bottle of sparkling wine and a barrel of olives in the refrigerator. This is one of those accidents that led to the discovery, and for us it has become a much-loved regular chicken dinner.

Quick note: When cooking chicken, marinating is not an absolutely necessary step, but if you have time to do so, everything will be different-it is both tender and infused with flavor.

Salt water 8 parts water to 1 part salt, enough to fill your container, a little Maggi sauce, a little apple cider vinegar, bay leaf pepper, garlic, fresh herbs, to taste

Chicken 1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces, brine 2 tablespoons olive oil, add more baking pan 80 g butter, chop 1 brown onion, chop 4 cloves garlic, mash and chop 4 glasses of champagne ( If you drink it, you can also have a cup) like) 3 bay leaves, a small handful of thyme sprigs, 2 carrots, cut into thick slices in small buckets, green Sicilian olives, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Salad, serve

Stir the salt into cold water in a large enough container to hold the meat so that it is completely submerged. Choose glass, ceramic or plastic containers instead of metal containers.

Add your favorite seasoning. We often use a bit of Maggi sauce, apple cider vinegar, bay leaf, pepper, garlic and fresh herbs, but the only rule to add to the brine mixture is that it matches your taste.

Add the meat, cover and refrigerate for at least four hours, or up to 24 hours.

When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 200C (fan forced 180C).

Remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry with a paper towel.

Heat olive oil and butter in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken in batches, skin side down, and cook for five minutes or until golden brown. Turn it over and cook the other side for three minutes. Put the chicken aside.

Reduce the heat to medium. Add onions and cook for five minutes, until tender. Add garlic and cook for another minute.

Add a glass of champagne, deglaze the bottom of the pan, stir and scrape, and mix with the debris and pan juices stuck to it.

Drizzle oil on a large baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.

Place the chicken nuggets on a plate with the skin facing up. Sprinkle with bay leaves and thyme, and season with pepper. Pour the liquid in the frying pan and the remaining champagne, sprinkle with carrots and olives.

Bake for 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the carrots are tender. Serve with salad.

We often use only zucchini and peppers for this thing-you can use yellow zucchini or light green zucchini if ​​you like. Using coriander will make this more Middle Eastern and parsley more Mediterranean, so choose the one you like. For the vegetarian version, use tahini (one tablespoon per layer) instead of fetta and labne.

2 large eggplants, cut lengthwise into 5mm slices 80ml olive oil 2 cloves garlic, crush 4 zucchini, cut lengthwise into 5mm slices 1 red pepper, remove the seeds, cut into 1cm strips, 1 green pepper, remove the seeds, and cut into pieces 1cm bar 200g labne 200g 60g pistachio nuts, 1 pomegranate sea salt seed coarsely chopped, sprinkled with chopped coriander or flat leaf parsley, sprinkle

Lemon balsamic vinegar 120 ml extra virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon minced lemon zest 2 tablespoons lemon juice sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Prepare a charcoal grill or grill pan for cooking.

Put the eggplant slices on a paper towel and sprinkle with salt. Let stand for about 10 minutes until you see liquid bubbles appearing on the meat. Wipe with a paper towel and turn it over. Repeat marinating on the second side. This will draw out the water and give the eggplant a less spongy consistency when cooked.

Mix olive oil and garlic in a small bowl. Brush the vegetables and cook (in batches if necessary) until soft and slightly charred.

To make balsamic vinegar, put the oil, lemon zest and juice in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and stir well.

When assembling, put the charcoal-grilled vegetables on the plate with the rabbi (or tahini), and drizzle the balsamic vinegar between the layers. Finally, crush the goat's milk and top with the remaining balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with vanilla, pistachio and pomegranate seeds.

A chef friend suggested adding walnuts to my plum pie. A layer of plums scattered under the plums absorbed some of the juice and added a lovely crunch.

40 g walnuts, finely chopped 8-12 mixed plums, halved or quartered, seeded 190 g blueberry rock sugar, sprinkled with dusty running custard, cream and/or ice cream, and serve

180 g unsalted butter for pastry 80 g plain flour a pinch of salt 50 ml water, mixed with a little lemon juice

To make pastries, take the butter out of the refrigerator, let it soften, and cut into 2 cm cubes.

Put the butter in a mixing bowl, add flour and a pinch of salt. Knead with fingertips until well mixed.

Add the water mixture little by little and mix with your fingers to turn the powdered flakes into a ball together. You may not need all the water, or you may need more water.

Press the ball into a flat disc, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove from the refrigerator and let stand for about 20 minutes to soften. At the same time, preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan forced).

Spread the pastry on a lightly floured surface to fit a 23 cm (basic size) pine bottom tart tin. Press into the jar and trim off the excess. Sprinkle the walnuts evenly on the base.

Place the plums on the bottom of the pastry with the cut side facing up. Sprinkle blueberries on top and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature, with runny custard, cream and/or ice cream.

This is an excerpt from "Where the River Bends" edited by Jane and Jimmy Barnes, published by HarperCollins Australia (original price $49.99)