Barnes storming! JIMMY'S PASSION ON A PLATE

The Aussie rocker’s a hit in the kitchen too and is sharing his family's face eats

- Wendyl Nissen

When Cold Chisel rocker Jimmy Barnes was invited for dinner at the fl at of a girl he had recently met in 1979, he found himself a bit confl icted.

“I remember her asking me to come to her place because she wanted to cook for me. She said to me, ‘When I was younger, I found a recipe for apricot chicken, would you like to try it?’

“The truth be known, I wasn’t that keen on the idea. It sounded like a dessert and a main course mixed together. But I wanted to be with her so much, I quickly replied, ‘Mmm, that sounds good. I’d love to try it.’ I was lying. I wasn’t going to let on that I only ate meat and potatoes.”

Weekly readers will remember that apricot chicken was a popular dish in the ’70s, which we all made out of a tin of apricots, chicken and Maggi French Onion Soup.

But Jimmy ate it and is glad he did because the girl who cooked for him that night became his wife, Jane Barnes.

“All I knew was Jane was the best girl I had ever met and this was the best thing I’d ever eaten up to that moment,” he tells. “I loved it.”

Jane laughs at this story but says she still cooks it for Jimmy, now 65, to this day.

“I still make it for him because he loves it, the kids love it too,” she says.

We’re talking about food because the high-profile couple have just released their first cookbook, Where the River Bends, which features a collection of their family’s favourite recipes, photographed in their gorgeous homestead in Australia’s Southern Highlands.