Steamed soy egg custard

I’m not excellent at making the time to have a proper breakfast. And as much as ‘intermittent fasting’ might have some science to back up its benefits, I’m personally trying to get in a bit more protein earlier in the day these days.

So here’s my soy steamed egg custard, topped with zucchini, mushrooms and Sichuan pepper-spiked chilli oil. You can customise it with pretty much any toppings you fancy, for a wiggly, jiggly good time!

If you’re anything like me, cooking the same thing day in and day out is a recipe for boredom, so here’s a handy egg dish that you can throw into the rotation. It’s easy to make and customise, as well as high protein and goddam delicious.

You could serve it alongside steamed rice, or eat it alone for a quick and simple something.

Ingredients - Serves 1

1 whole egg, plus 1 egg white

(save the other yolk in a jar and cure it in some soy and mirin in the fridge, thank me later)

1 tablespoon light soy

30ml water

Toppings

This is your time to shine. Or an opportunity to clear out your fridge. Anything from finely julienned ginger, to flakes of leftover fish, or any finely sliced veg works. I like mushrooms because they add another layer of savoury flavour to the end result.

1 baby king oyster mushroom, sliced into rounds

1/3 zucchini, sliced into rounds

Sichuan peppercorns

Your favourite chilli oil

Method

Whisk together the egg mixture and water until combined. Add the soy and whisk again. Pour into a shallow bowl that fits your steamer, or a pan with a lid. Cover the boil with foil or cling film, pop on the lid and steam for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, the custard should still be quite soft in the middle, but set around the edges. Top with your veg, cover again and steam for a further 5 minutes.

Once the custard is set, carefully remove from your steamer. Garnish your steamed eggs with chilli oil, a few drops of sesame oil, whatever you like - finely sliced ginger and shallots is also a great combo.

The Easiest Cake Recipe In The World: Lemon Drizzle Edition

A couple of years back, I shared what will remain The Easiest Cake Recipe In The World. Why? Because it’s so stinking easy, you barely need a recipe.

If you click the link above, you’ll get all the info you need, but essentially, all you require is equal weight of egg, butter, sugar and self raising flour. Whip it together you have the basis of a cake you can take in so many directions. Depending on the type of sugar (e.g. if you used brown sugar), you can switch up the density a little, but what you essentially have, is a moist butter cake with a decent crumb.

I love this recipe because it essentially consists of ingredients you will always have in your kitchen, and from there, you can do what you like to trick it up. From adding frozen fruit, chocolate chips and more, it’s an excellent one to have up your sleeve should you have an unexpected guest. Or, if you’re me, you just feel like making something sweet for yourself. One egg is roughly 56g without the shell, so weigh out the other ingredients, cream the butter and sugar, add in the egg, sift in the flour, add whatever else you like, and throw it in the oven. And voila! Cute cake for one.

Lately I’ve been loving turning this excellent base recipe into a lemon drizzle cake. All you need to do is add lemon zest to the batter (use your senses to know how much, but I’d use about half a lemon’s worth of zest for a cake for one). I also like to add a little vanilla paste.

Once the cake is baked (about 25 minutes on 180c), this is the hardest part: release it from its pan, invert it and allow it to cool completely before you ice it. See? Hard!

Once fully cool (this is essential), I make a soft icing consisting of lemon juice and icing sugar. Eyeball it until you have a thick, glossy, viscous texture. Pour this glossy wonder onto the cake, and carefully spread it without shifting crumbs, so you have an even, glossy topper. Finish with more lemon zest. Perfect with a cup of tea!

One Pan Wonder: creamy braised butterbeans with leek, bacon, zucchini and tomato

Creamy braised butterbeans with leek, bacon, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes. A satisfying one pan meal that requires very few brain cells to produce, but is big on flavour and satisfaction.

I like to cook dishes like these when I'm tempted to order in, but know I needn't (do better, Mel).

Ingredients

1/2 leek, sliced into 1cm rounds

1 knob butter

1 rasher middle bacon, sliced into matchsticks

1 stalk celery, finely chopped

1 tin butterbeans, rinsed

1 cup chicken stock

1 handful small cherry tomatoes (or regular cherry tomatoes, halved)

1/2 zucchini, sliced into 1/2cm rounds

To serve:

A handful flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

Parmesan, microplaned

1/4 lemon, zested

salt and black pepper, to taste

Method

Soften half a leek sliced into rounds in butter for 1-2 minutes on medium heat, then add in a handful of sliced bacon and a stalk of celery, finely chopped.

Once the celery is translucent, add in a tin of rinsed butterbeans, a cup of chicken broth, and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

Add in a handful of small cherry tomatoes. When everything starts to soften as one (another 10-15 mins), use the back of a wooden spoon to gently smoosh some of the beans and tomatoes to help it all amalgamate.

Add the sliced zucchini and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Simmer until the broth and beans come together happily in a thick saucy consistency (you'll know).

Finish with finely chopped flat leaf parsley, grated Parmesan, lemon zest, and a subtle blessing of olive oil.

Serve with good bread. We like that stuff.

P.s the super cool blue pan was a gift from Our Place. 💙

Sichuan Spiked Ginger Pork

We all need those recipes we can go to when we are short on time or inspiration, to deliver something delicious, every time. It’s a good way to minimise the temptation to order in, too.

I love this easy pork mince dish, spiked with humming, numbing Sichuan pepper, crunchy celery, and heaps of ginger. It's a cinch to make and can be folded through noodles (I’m loving Korean sweet potato noodles, aka. dangmyeon), or served over steamed jasmine rice. I like to add a little omelette action on the side, which gives the dish a little more body and protein satisfaction.

Serves 2.

Ingredients

2 stalks celery, diced into 1cm cubes

1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and julienned, plus a little more for garnish

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 brown onion, finely diced

300g pork mince

3 tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine

2 tbsp soy

1/2 tsp sesame oil

Ground white pepper

Sichuan peppercorns

Sichuan pepper oil (aka prickly ash oil)

Sesame seeds, to garnish

Optional

Finely sliced veg. I used a mandoline so that everything is super fine, as I usually let the residual heat from cooking wilt the veg a little, so that there’s still a little texture going on. I like to use mushrooms (in this case, baby King Browns), and zucchini, but you could throw in squash, asparagus, sliced snow peas, etc.

You can also do like I do, and add in an omelette. In this case, I make a thin omelette, rolled it and sliced it, before folding it into my noodles.

Method
In a pan on medium-high heat, sweat finely diced onion, garlic, and ginger in a tsp neutral oil, for 1-2 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add diced celery and stir fry for another minute or so (you want to keep a little crunch for texture). Remove all contents from the pan and return the pan to heat. Add the pork mince with a little oil, and brown the mince.

Add back the aromats you set aside. Add in soy, shaoxing, and sesame oil to taste. Season with ground white pepper, Sichuan pepper. 

At this point, I like to add finely sliced veg like baby King Brown mushrooms and/or zucchini and let them wilt in the residual heat. Remove pan from heat, add a splash of Sichuan pepper oil, garnish with more fresh ginger, and sesame seeds. 

Fold through noodles like these Korean sweet potato ones - I like them because they have a bouncy chew and are conveniently low carb if you’re looking to balance that part of your meal out. You can also serve this minced wonder over steamed jasmine rice and add an omelette or fried egg to seal the deal.

Guanciale stuffed cabbage with roasted grapes and cashew cream

When fridge clean outs go right, you get guanciale stuffed cabbage with roasted grapes and cashew cream.

This recipe is a more a “recipe”. That is, a loose list of suggestions that you can adjust based on what you may have in your fridge or cupboard… don’t feel completely wed to what I’ve used, the whole point is to use what you have. If your cabbage is a different variety. If you’re pescatarian and you’d prefer to use tinned achovies instead of guanciale. If you have almonds or pistachios instead of cashews. Just taste, adjust and you’ll figure it out!

The elements that make this dish work are:

• Charring the leaves. It adds depth of flavour, texture and a slight smokiness.

• Guanciale adds salt, fat and body to the end result.

• Chicken stock helps to steam and soften the leave, speeding up the cooking process. Water will totally suffice.

• Grapes add acidity, a sweet and sour punch. You could sub that element out with adding pickles to the final dish… I’m thinking pickled red onion.

• The cashew cream adds a saucy element to bring it all together. A slick of Greek yoghurt, seasoned with salt, perhaps spiked with preserved lemon would also work beautifully.

Ingredients

A wedge of drumhead cabbage

50g guanciale, sliced

1/4 brown onion, sliced

1 small bunch grapes

1 cup chicken stock

Cashew cream

1/2 cup dry roasted cashews

1/4 cup water

2 tbs olive oil

1 tbs white miso

Lemon juice

salt flakes

Method
Preheat an oven to 210c. Heat a cast iron or heavy based pan on high. Once hot, add oil and char the cut edges of the cabbage. Set aside.

When cool enough to handle, gently tuck slices of guanciale and onion between the leaves of the cabbage. You could add soft herbs, garlic, anchovies, the aim of the aim is to add flavour and fat… how you go about that is up to you!

Transfer to a baking tray, pour over the chicken stock and add the bunch of grapes. Roast until the inner leaves become tender, about 45mins, turning the heat down to 190c at 30mins.

Blitz the ingredients for the cashew cream and season to taste. Add more water if the cream is too thick, more cashews if you’ve overdone it.
To serve, slick the cashew cream on a plate, gently place the wedge on top and dress with a generous drizzle of olive oil, salt and lemon juice.

3 Ingredient Veggie Wraps

Sure, lunch wraps are cheap and accessible to buy from the supermarket, but if you’re caught short, or just prefer making them yourself to keep your food a bit simpler, this is one recipe you’re going to want to bank. The best thing, is all you need are 3 ingredients: spinach leaves, porridge oats and chickpea (besan) flour.

They’re soft, pliable and super easy to fill with your favorite lunchtime combo, or use them as a tortilla alternative to a DIY taco night for something different. Doesn’t hurt that you’re jamming a portion of veggies in there without anyone really noticing!

Ingredients (makes around 6)

2 cups instant oats

2 cups water

100g baby spinach

1/2 cup besan (chickpea) flour

Method

Soak oats in water for 10 minutes.

Add this oaty mess (all of it) to a nutribullet and blitz till smooth. Add spinach, pulse to combine, then besan flour, pulse again until smooth.

Add more water to loosen the mixture if required. You're looking for a crepe batter consistency.

Season with salt and pepper.

To cook, pour a thin layer of batter in a pre-heated non stick pan on medium heat. Do not flip till the edges start to curl, because these babies are super soft and will break apart if flipped too early. Cook on both sides till tender and cooked through.

Hong Shao Rou - Sticky Red Braised Pork Belly

Hong shao rou, or red braised pork belly, is a lip-stickingly rich, salty-sweet good time and is a classic Hunanese dish. 

The pork is blanched, then braised in Chinese cooking wine, a combo of soys and aromats (I used ginger, star anise, fennel seed, cinnamon, nutmeg, white pepper and cardamom)...until you don't think you're ready for this jelly (bootylicious).

The braising liquor is then reduced to a glossy, coating sauce with rock sugar, resulting in shiny, fatty nuggs of happiness, best served with steamed rice and pickled mustard greens. 

Ingredients

700g pork belly, chopped into 3cm chunks, skin on

300ml shaoxing cooking wine

3 star anise

White pepper

1 tsp fennel seeds

3-4 green cardamom pods, lightly bashed

1 cinnamon quill

1 thumb sized piece of ginger, roughly sliced

1/4 cup light soy

1/4 cup dark soy

60g rock sugar

Method

Place the diced pork belly into a pot and cover with cold water. Bring the pork up to a boil and once the scum starts to rise to the surface, immediately drain the pork and rinse well. Scrub the pot to remove any traces of scum, also. 

Place the pork back in the pot, with enough water to cover the bottom of the pot, the add in the shaoxing, aromats and soy (basically, everything but the sugar). 

Bring the liquid to the boil and then turn down to the heat and place a lid on the pot, a little ajar, so that the liquor can evaporate slightly. Simmer for 1.5 hours, or until the fat hat become gelatinous and the flesh is soft. 

Remove the lid, add the rock sugar and bring the contents up to a high boil. Stir thoroughly several times to ensure the sugar is dissolved. Reduce until the liquid is thickened and coats the pork and the bottom of the pot. Everything should be glossy and coated. 

Serve with steamed jasmine rice, Chinese pickled mustard greens, or slices of fresh tomato. 

Pine Mushroom Pasta

Is it really winter in Melbourne if you don’t eat pine mushrooms as often as possible? A perfect winter bowl for a rainy Melbourne day.

Sauté one clove finely diced garlic, a few sprigs of thyme and a small eschalot, also finely diced, in a generous knob of butter for 1-2 minutes on medium-high heat, or until translucent. Throw in sliced pine mushrooms with a good slug of olive oil and sauté briefly until the mushrooms are soft and juicy. Season to taste.

Throw in pasta, and toss together with a little pasta water and another small knob of butter, until glossy and combined. Garnish with reggiano, lemon zest, black pepper, parsley and chilli oil (optional).

Pork Shoulder Ragu

A comfort classic that fills the house with the toothsome aroma of slow cooked meaty goodness. Simple, satisfying and one of my favourite ways to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Ingredients

Olive oil

Sea salt

Pepper

1 pork shoulder, skin removed and roughly cut into chunks around 5-7cm 

1 brown onion, peeled and finely diced

3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced

2 stalks celery, peeled and finely diced

1 carrot, peeled and finely diced

3-4 ribbons of lemon peel

3-4 sprigs thyme 

1 tin crushed tomatoes (or you can slow roast a punnet of cherry tomatoes if they’re going south in the fridge to use them up)

2-3 glasses of red wine (you can do this recipe with chicken stock and white wine instead of tomato, and make it a white ragu).

Method

In a large, heavy based pot on a medium to high heat, brown the chunks of pork in olive oil, until golden and sealed on all sides. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan, transferring the sealed pieces to a bowl. 

Once the meat is browned, reduce the pan to a medium heat and add another generous slug of olive oil. Sauté the onion, garlic, celery and carrot until the onion is translucent, then throw in the lemon skin and thyme. 

Return the pork to the pot, then add the tomatoes and wine. Stir to combine, then turn the heat back up to high until it begins to simmer. Season generously with salt and pepper, stir to combine, then reduce to a low heat, place the lid on, propped up with a spoon to allow a small amount of evaporation. Simmer on the stove for 4-6 hours, or if your pot is oven proof, transfer to an oven on 120c for the same amount of time, the top loosely covered with foil. 

The pork is ready when you can use a spoon to crush the chunks of pork. Gently smoosh all the pork and incorporate it into the sauce, season to taste. If there is still a lot of liquid left, simmer it on the stove, uncovered, until it is reduced enough to coat the back of a spoon.

To serve: cook the pasta to al dente, reserving 1 cup of pasta water. In a frying pan, spoon as much ragu as you plan to serve, along with a good splash of the pasta water. Bring to a simmer and when the mixture begins to bubble and thicken, throw in the pasta. Toss vigorously, to work the starches, creating a glossy sauce. Taste once again to season, then transfer the pasta to the hot plate. Garnish with microplanes parmigiano reggiano, lemon zest and black pepper.

Roast Chicken Pie: File Under Leftover Heroes

We’re all trying to do more with less, and we know what food waste has become a huge issue. I, for one, am not the kind of person who can eat the same meal day in and out, so it pays to have a few ideas when it comes to transforming leftovers into new dishes.

This pie was made from about half a roast chicken I baked, along with the veg. I shredded the meat, and collected the leftover jelly/gravy and veg. In a deep frying pan, I sweated off half a leek and some brown onion, then threw in a cup of roughly chopped mushrooms. After a few minutes, throw in the leftovers with a cup of stock. To round out the gravy, I added a heaped tablespoon of cream cheese and a tablespoon of dijon mustard. Bring everything to a simmer, and thicken with a teaspoon of potato starch, or my favourite trick, liquid kombu. Season to taste and set aside to cool and there you have it, the easiest pie filling.

…but here’s the thing. You can use this process with so many leftovers. Whether it’s a curry, Bolognese (even with the pasta), stew, leftover veg… you can make pretty much anything into a pie filling.

Joe taught me an olive oil pastry recipe that bears sharing (thanks babe!), and it’s brilliant because you need zero pastry skills to pull it off. It’s based on the principle of halves. So for however much plain flour you have, add half that in grams of water, and half that again, of olive oil. So if you have 200g flour, mix in 100g water and 50g oil. It’s also a vegan friendly, should you need a good vegan dough recipe on hand.

For a galette style pie to serve 4:

Ingredients

200g plain flour

100g water

50g olive oil

Sea salt

Method

Make a well in the centre of your flour. Combine the water and oil, then add to the centre of your flour well with a good few pinches of sea salt and bring the dough together. Knead lightly until the dough is combined, soft and pliable. Cover with a clean damp tea towel until ready to use.

When ready to use, heat the oven to 200c. Roll out the dough to about 1/2cm thick and gently drape it over a lined or non stick pie tin. Spoon in your cooled (at least room temp) pie filling and then bring the edges over. brush the pastry with melted butter (you can use Nuttelex if you want to keep it vegan), milk, or egg). Garnish the pie with fresh tarragon or thyme leaves, and sea salt. Cover the exposed filling with a small piece of silicon bakeware or baking paper, and cook for 40 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

Allow to cool slightly so that the filling solidifies again and you can slice it neatly. You can eat it room temp, chilled a picnic, or simply reheat slices in the oven. Serve with cornichons and Dijon mustard.

Flourless Chocolate and Hazelnut Cake

Everyone needs a super simple chocolate cake recipe cake up their sleeve for good days, bad days, entertaining, or just cos. This one is dense, fudgy and rich, without being overwhelming. The espresso and Toberlone are fun little additions to highlight the cacao-ness of it all, but you can easily replace them if you like.

Dress is up any way you like, but I will vouch for it standing alone in its glory, simply dusted in cacao powder and served with cream. The Toblerone came about because I ran out of dark chocolate to make up the quantities, but honestly, the milk chocolate and nougat lightens up the intensity of the cacao and dark chocolate. Just a tad. Maybe not at all. But it’s good to be flexible with what you have, no? This one is also gluten free, making it handy for entertaining.

Ingredients

180g dark chocolate, chopped

60g Toblerone, chopped

180g unsalted butter, cubed

40g cacao (not cocoa) powder, sifted

50ml espresso (you can also substitute for the same volume of strong instant coffee. If you don’t want to use coffee, you could try swapping it with olive oil, orange juice or strong green tea).

6 eggs, separated

1 pinch caster sugar

10ml white vinegar

100g brown sugar

30g caster sugar

200g hazelnut meal

Method

Preheat your oven to 180c. Oil and line a 25cm springform tin and et aside. Place a clean, heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water (be sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl) and add the chopped chocolate and butter. Stir to combine as they melt, and gradually mix in the cacao powder until combined. Add the coffee, combine well and set aside.

In a stand mixer or using an electric hand mixer, add the egg whites, a generous pinch of caster sugar and the vinegar. Whisk until soft peaks form, then place into a clean mixing bowl and set aside. Place the 100g brown sugar and 30g caster sugar in the mixer with the yolks and whisk until pale.

Once the chocolate has cooled a bit, gradually fold in the egg yolk mixture in batches, until combined. Do the same with the hazelnut meal. Finally, lightly fold in the egg whites until just combined. You don’t want to work it too hard, otherwise you’ll knock out all the air you’ve worked hard to put in there. Add a good pinch of sea salt and briefly fold it in.

Pour the batter into the lined cake tin and bake for 40 minutes, or until the centre is still fudgy in the centre, but the outside feels just set. Set aside for 15-20 minutes, then release from the tin, inverted and set aside to cool.

Once cool, dust with cacao powder and serve with some whipped cream and a little lemon zest.

Slow Roasted Cabbage with Miso Yoghurt Dressing

If you’re after a vegetarian side with a bit of heft, this is a great one to add to your arsenal. The cooking process adds a meatiness to the texture of the dish making it feel substantial and earthy, while the finish gives the outer leaves a nuttiness, and a satisfying caramelised crunch.

Ingredients

1 head cabbage (I used Savoy), outer leaves removed and thoroughly washed

1 knob butter

To finish

1 knob melted butter

25ml sherry vinegar (or a vinegar of your choosing)

1 cup Greek yoghurt

White miso

Togarashi or furikake, to garnish (you can also top it with chopped nuts, herbs or a chimmichurri

Method

Preheat the oven to 140c. Using a small paring knife, careful cut some of the core from the cabbage, around the size of a golfball. The purpose of creating a small space in the base, is so that the cabbage can take in the steam and cook properly.

Find an oven friendly pot/baking vessel with a lid that fits the cabbage snugly, and place the cabbage in. Fill with water to halfway, top with the knob of butter, cover with baking paper and the lid. Place the cabbage in the oven for 4 hours on 140c.

Remove the cabbage from the oven and drain the water out completely. Turn the oven up too 200c. Combine the melted butter and vinegar (about equal parts) in a small bowl and brush the mixture over the top of the cabbage. Pour over any excess and place the cabbage back in the oven, uncovered, until crisp and bronzed.

To serve, combine the yoghurt with white miso, to taste. Miso yoghurt is a total game changer: it adds a supreme savoury quality to any dish you add it to, try using it as a salad dressing, or finishing roast veggies with a dollop of this white gold!

Spread the miso yoghurt on the base of a serving dish. Carve the cabbage into wedges, place on top and garnish with furkiake, or any garnish of your choosing.

Kuku Sabzi - Persian Green Omelette

This verdant Persian omelette is more veg than egg, and it should absolutely make it into your mid week dinner or weekend brunch repertoire. What I love about this dish and Middle Eastern cooking in general is its incredible combination of heady spice, generous textures and a beautiful balance of sweet, bitter, fresh and rich. The deeply savoury flavours are studded by pops of tart sweetness from the barberries, and the radicchio adds a bitter edge of depth and dimension to round out the herbaceous flavours.

There are many ways to make this recipe your own, and this one is by no means the most authentic recipe you’ll find, but that’s the beauty of trying it out and tweaking it over time. The eggs in this dish are just there to set the herbs and vegetables, so it’s a great one for those who don’t like the egginess of a classic frittata.

Ingredients

1 large brown onion, peeled and chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 bulb fennel, coarsely chopped

1 big handful of radicchio, thinly sliced (for a less bitter edge, you could also use kale or silverbeet)

For the egg mixture

7 large eggs

1 cup flat leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped

1 cup dill, chopped

1 cup coriander leaves, chopped

1 tbsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 handful barberries or raisins

Butter

Oil

Salt flakes

To garnish

Chopped tomatoes, flat leaf parsley, sumac, yoghurt, lemon, sesame seeds

Method

In a heavy based frying pan on a medium heat, add a good slug of vegetable oil and the onion, garlic, fennel and radicchio. Sweat for 10-15 minutes until cooked through, glossy and beginning to caramelise. Remove the vegetables from the pan and transfer to a bowl to cool a fair bit (too hot, and the eggs will start to cook before you want the to). Once cooled, drain any excess liquid from the vegetables.

In a blender, add the eggs, parsley, dill and coriander with a good pinch of salt. Blitz into a verdant green smoothie-looking mixture.

Into the cooled and drained vegetables, add the turmeric, pepper and cinnamon and combine thoroughly. Gently fold in the egg mixture, along with the barberries.

In a deep non stick pan with about a 23cm diameter on medium heat, add a large knob of butter and good slug of vegetable oil and melt. Swirl to coat the pan (including the sides), and once the butter is bubbling. You can test whether the oil is hot enough by adding a teaspoon of the mixture in. If it sizzles, you’re good to go. Pour in the egg mixture and tap the pan gently to remove any air bubbles.

Reduce the heat to medium/low and allow the mixture to set. When you can see a crust forming around the sides, gently edge a knife around the sides to release it from the pan, so it can continue to crisp up and form a shell on the outside. Cook for a further 15-20 minutes, or until set.

If you’re feeling confident, pop a plate over the top of the pan and flip out your omelette (be careful, as the hot oil will drip out), then gently slide it back into the pan to seal the other side briefly. Otherwise, if you’re not ready to try this out, you can pop the pan into the oven at 180c to set the top. Remove when it has a stiff jiggle going on.

Serve, turned out on a plate and garnish with yoghurt (or labne), a pinch of sumac and sesame, and some chopped tomatoes and parsley, dressed in olive oil, lemon and a good pinch of salt.

Pistachio green sauce

Cool weather means rich, low and slow cooking. A favourite at our place is a classic Italian-style pork shoulder, poached in spice-infused milk. But whether it’s meat or veg, rich food needs a little lightness and acidity. This pistachio and herb sauce is a cinch to make, and can be used to bring balance to a slow roast chook, pork, veg…easy does it!

This recipe was inspired by my super overgrown amounts of parsley and mint in the garden right now. They’re fed by the compost we make from our vegetable trimmings in the kitchen. Full circle stuff is satisfying, and achievable, even in small spaces.

Ingredients

1 cup shelled pistachios, toasted and chopped (you could also try it with other nuts, like hazelnuts, walnuts or almonds)

2 handfuls parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped (I used one each of curly and flat leaf)**

1 handful mint, leaves picked and finely chopped

1 lemon, zested

1 cup olive oil

2-3 tablespoons hot sauce (to taste)

salt and pepper to season

Method

In a bowl, combine the toasted, chopped pistachios, finely chopped herbs and lemon zest. Juice the lemon and pour over the herbs, then toss to combine. Add the olive oil gradually, while stirring, until everything is combined and generously coated. Add hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste, adjusting for acidity and balance. This is one of those recipes that relies on adjusting to your preference, rather than adhering to the rules. Lemons yield more or less juice, your olive oil may be fruitier or more neutral… so just taste and adjust as you go. Set aside from an hour or two before serving, to allow the acid to break down the herbs and the flavours to develop. Serve with your favourite roasted or slow cooked meat or veg.

Notes: if you wanted to go fancy lazy, you could add this all to a blender and make a smooth sauce. Add capers and toasted fennel seeds if serving with a whole roasted fish… treat this as a basic recipe you can own.

**make sure you compost your green offcuts responsibly! The herbs I used were from my garden, which is nourished by the compost I make from my veggie scraps.

Silverbeet with Chickpea, Chilli & Lemon

You want quick, simple, cheap and healthy? You’ve come to the right place. This is a regular mid week favourite and a classic from Joe’s family, amended slightly to maximum yum. It’s also vegan and gluten friendly as well.

Ingredients

1 large eschallot (or a small brown onion), peeled and finely sliced⁣⁣⁣
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed⁣⁣⁣
2-3 bird’s eye chilis, finely sliced⁣⁣⁣
1 bunch silverbeet, stems chopped finely, leaves more roughly⁣⁣⁣
1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed⁣⁣⁣
1 lemon, zested and juiced⁣⁣⁣
2 tbsp olive oil⁣⁣⁣
Salt flakes⁣⁣⁣
Black pepper⁣⁣⁣
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg or cinnamon (optional)⁣⁣⁣

Method
In a large pan or pot on a moderate heat, add about a tbsp of the olive oil and sauté the eschallot, garlic and chilli for 1-2 minutes, or until the eschallot is translucent. Add the finely chopped stalks and cook for a further 3-4 minutes, or until slightly softened. Add the chopped silverbeet leaves and give everything a good stir to combine and then wait for the leaves to wilt and cook down. Add the chickpeas, combine well. Once the leaves are cooked down to your liking (you may want to keep it a bit fresh and crunchy, or stew until really tender; cook’s choice), remove the pan from heat and add the lemon juice and most of the zest (reserve some for garnish). Combine well and season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste. You can also grate a little nutmeg or cinnamon (or both!), to amp up the dimension, if you have it. ⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣
To serve, place the silverbeet onto a bowl, dress with olive oil, salt flakes and remaining lemon zest.⁣ Great as a stand-alone dish, but just as ideal as part of a bigger dining picture. For the train spotters, that is indeed a lime prop, but in all honesty, you could use that instead of lemon and be fine.

Pineapple Hot Sauce!

We are obsessed with hot sauce in our house (and if you haven’t seen Hot Ones on Youtube, you don’t know what you’re missing). This is a super simple one to make, just remember to ‘burp’ it daily, to avoid a spicy explosion on your kitchen bench!

This is a super simple hot sauce recipe using pineapple and Habanero chilis. Habaneros are ideal because of their fruity heat, but you can also use birds’ eye chilis if you can’t find them. The basic idea is that the sugar in the pineapple and chilli ferments, helping to develop the flavour of the sauce. Store your newly made sauce at room temperature for a few days to ferment, opening the lid daily to release any built up gas (otherwise the jar will explode!). Taste your sauce daily as the flavours will continue to develop, and once you’ve reached a flavour profile you love, transfer your hotsauce to the fridge, top stop the fermentation process. Keep it refrigerated from that point onwards.

Ingredients

1 pineapple, skin removed*, chopped

A good handful of Habanero chillies, tops removed, coarsely chopped, seeds in

1 cup white vinegar

1 lime, juiced

A good pinch or two of salt flakes

Method

Sterilise a glass jar and set aside (this is a crucial step, so please take the time to do it properly).

In a blender or Nutribullet, blitz the pineapple and chilli. In a clean mixing bowl, combine the blitzed pineapple and chilli with the remaining ingredients. You can also do it in batches if you can’t fit it all in, then mix everything well to combine.

If you want a refined sauce, pass the sauce through a sieve, lined with muslin cloth (I prefer to keep it chunky).

Pour into the jar and seal.

Open the jar once a day to release the gas created through the fermentation process.

Taste the sauce daily. Once the sauce tastes the way you like it, transfer the jar to the fridge to stop the sauce fermenting further. 

*As always, please dispose of your food waste responsibly. Composting is a cheap and easy way to do it at home so that you can contribute less to landfill and nourish your plants while you do the right thing

The Only Veggie Soup Recipe You Will Ever Need

My zucchini patch is still going gangbusters. We’ve done Zuni pickles, roasted, raw in salads, the works.⁣
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Zucchs aside, this is a damn good (and very simple) recipe you can adapt to other veg you might have lying around. Things like carrots, potatoes, fennel, celeriac and pumpkin are PERFECT for it, so feel free to sub out the zucchini for any combo of these, and take veggie soup from alright, to ALRIGHT!!
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Ingredients⁣⁣
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3 tablespoons vegetable oil ⁣⁣
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3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped⁣⁣
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2 brown onions, peeled and coarsely chopped⁣⁣
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1 teaspoon sea salt ⁣⁣
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1 teaspoon ground white pepper ⁣⁣
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2 tablespoons white miso paste⁣⁣
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4 large zucchini, cut into chunks⁣⁣
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Enough rich chicken or vegetable stock to cover solids (about 1.5L)⁣⁣
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50g butter (substitute with olive oil to make this vegan)⁣⁣
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2 tablespoons good quality EVO (I love @altoolives)⁣⁣
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Method⁣⁣
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In a large saucepan, heat the 3 tablespoons of oil over low heat. Add the garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and, stir to combine and bring the heat up to medium. Sauté until the onions are translucent, but haven't taken on colour. Add the zucchini and cook for a further 5 minutes. ⁣⁣
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Add in the miso paste and then pour in enough stock to cover the vegetables. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook until the vegetables collapse under the pressure of a spoon. ⁣⁣
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Carefully remove the pot from the stove, add the butter and then and using a stick blender, blitz until smooth. ⁣⁣
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Taste to season and serve (this one’s with a drizzle of green herb oil, yoghurt, dried zucchini flowers and dehydrated olive).

The Easiest Cake Recipe In The World: As Seen on Everyday Gourmet

I feel like...

• #BringBackTheClassics
• Apple crumble
• As Seen On TV
• Asian Food
• Aussie Classics
• Avocado
• Bacon
• Baking
• Beans
• Beef
• Beef Rendang
• Berries
• Butterbeans
• Cabbage
• Cake
• Carrot
• Cashew
• Caviar
• Chai
• Cheap
• Chez Dre
• Chicken
• Chickpea
• Chilli
• Chilli Oil
• Chinese
• Chocolate
• Coconut Crack Bars
• Comfort Food
• Coriander
• Curry
• Custard
• Dairy Free
• Dan Dan Noodles
• Dessert
• Dim Sum
• Dressing
• Drinks
• Dumplings
• Eas
• Easy Recipes
• Eat Your Weeds
• Egg
• Eggs
• Eggwhite
• Everyday Gourmet
• Floss
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Gluten Free

As seen on Everyday Gourmet Season 8, with Justine Schofield on Channel 10.

Click here to watch the episode!

Everybody needs a simple, please everybody pudding you can quickly throw together when entertaining, or just because. This baked pudding is part cake, part cobbler, with golden, almost crunchy bits on the outside and fabulously crumbly and cakey on the inside. And the best bit is you can use any fresh or tinned fruit you like. You could even swirl a few spoons of your favourite jam in, instead! 

The basic principle is EQUAL WEIGHTS of butter, sugar, eggs and flour. Only one egg in the house? Just weigh it and mix it with the same of the other three! Then add your favourite fruit (tinned, fresh, frozen, it doesn’t really matter! You can even add a swirl of your favourite jam, some extra cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger or vanilla…. whatever you like, really!

Batter

125g butter, softened 

125g caster sugar

2 large free range eggs

125g self raising flour 

Pinch of salt 

1 tsp vanilla paste (optional)

Flavouring

Let’s do one with something seasonal: 1-2 pears, peeled, cored and quartered. 

Method 

Preheat oven to 180c. Meanwhile, combine the butter, sugar and eggs in a stand mixer and whisk until thick and glossy. Sift in flour gradually and combine thoroughly. Add in the vanilla and salt at the end and quickly combine. 

Place the pear pieces in a buttered and floured cake tin, then carefully pour the batter over the top and shake the pan a little bit so that everything settles evenly. 

Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a skewer when inserted into the centre, comes out clean. Let rest for a few minutes before serving. Serve warm, with whipped cream, custard or ice cream. 

Click here to watch Justine and Melissa in action!

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Pork and Prawn Wontons with Black Vinegar and Chilli Oil

I want to eat...

• #BringBackTheClassics 2
• Apple crumble 1
• As Seen On TV 5
• Asian Food 3
• Aussie Classics 2
• Avocado 1
• Bacon 2
• Baking 8
• Beans 1
• Beef 2
• Beef Rendang 2
• Berries 1
• Butterbeans 1
• Cabbage 1
• Cake 6
• Carrot 2
• Cashew 1
• Caviar 1
• Chai 1
• Cheap 1
• Chez Dre 1
• Chicken 2
• Chickpea 1
• Chilli 2
• Chilli Oil 2
• Chinese 11
• Chocolate 3
• Coconut Crack Bars 1
• Comfort Food 4
• Coriander 1
• Curry 1
• Custard 1
• Dairy Free 1
• Dan Dan Noodles 1
• Dessert 3
• Dim Sum 1
• Dressing 1
• Drinks 1
• Dumplings 1
• Eas 1
• Easy Recipes 4
• Eat Your Weeds 1
• Egg 1
• Eggs 2
• Eggwhite 2
• Everyday Gourmet 1
• Floss 1
• Garlic 1
• Ginger 1
• Gluten Free 2

As seen on Channel 10’s Studio 10

I’ve been making this recipe since I was probably about 3. Like many kids who grow up in families who love to cook, you start with the most basic of cooking skills and build from there. From mixing the filling to forming the dumplings and cooking them, it’s the first recipe I remember my mother teaching me… and probably the last one I will forget . Over time, this recipe has evolved and that’s the beauty of it; once you understand the base recipe, you can customise it to your taste. Add chilli, XO, Chinese five spice, add mushrooms to the mix, like most great Chinese recipes, they’re open to a little free will and imagination.

Boil them, steam them or fry them, they’re a sure fire crowd pleaser. Click here to watch me make them while guest playing guest host on Studio 10, Australia’s favourite breakfast television show!

Ingredients

3 stalks shallots (scallions), green part finely chopped

1/2 bunch coriander, very thoroughly washed, stalks and roots very finely chopped, reserve leaves for garnish

1 thumb sized piece ginger, finely grated

1/2 small tin water chestnuts, coarsely chopped

150g green prawn meat, coarsely chopped

500g pork mince (nothing too lean as you need the fat content to make these babies succulent)

2 tbsp Kecap Manis

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp ground white pepper

Salt to taste

1 packet wonton wrappers

Dressing

1 tbsp Kecap Manis

2 tbsp Chinkiang Chinese black vinegar

1 tsp Lau Gan Ma chilli flakes in oil (from any Asian grocer)

Method

In a clean mixing bowl, combine the chopped shallots, coriander, grated ginger, chopped chestnuts, prawns and pork mince. Add the seasoning ingredients and mix well to combine.

Heat a small frypan with some vegetable oil to a medium high heat and fry off a teaspoon of mixture to check the seasoning. Once you have adjusted the dumpling mixture to your liking, you’re ready to make a batch!

Assemble the wontons by filling each wonton with about one teaspoon of mixture and sealing two adjacent sides with water to form a triangle. Make sure the edges are completely sealed to avoid unfortunate explosions if you fry, and to keep all the flavour and juiciness where it should be. If you want to get fancy, wet the two longest corners of the triangle and squeeze them together to make a tortellini shape (as pictured). Continue until all the mixture has been used up (though I love using this dumpling filling recipe as meatballs, or in a stir fry, too).

Heat a pan of water and place an oiled bamboo steamer on top. Steam the dumplings for 10 minutes or until the mixture is cooked through and the pastry is tender). While the dumplings are steaming, mix the dressing ingredients to taste. Dress the wontons in a bowl and then transfer to a serving bowl. Garnish with more sauce and the reserved coriander leaves. 

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Sticky Rice Lotus Parcels aka. Lo Mai Gai

I grew up going to Yum Cha every Sunday as a kid. Growing up in the very Anglo suburbs of Sydney, it was one of the traditions we had during the week where I felt we connected to our Chinese culture - unsurprisingly, it’s always about food. One of my favourite dishes is this one, little packages of sticky, fragrant lotus-scented rice, and succulent chicken and all kinds of other savoury, umami goodies packed within. Mum used to buy a few extra so we could take them to school, obviously I was THAT kid with the weird lunches (and proud of it, to this day).

Moving to Melbourne recently, the amount of Chinese grocers that stock these to take home and steam yourself are fewer and far between than Sydney, so I decided to learn how to make them myself. There are a heap of great recipes out there, and this one is an amalgam of a couple of the best, with a few amends of my own. These are great to make in a batch to store in the freezer, the perfect little savoury parcel of comfort food…and I can definitely vouch for the fact that they make a sustainably-packaged lunchbox all star.

For ingredients like dried lotus leaves, glutinous rice and any condiments your local supermarket doesn’t have (these days, the Asian grocery aisle is packed full of the staples you need), you can find them at any good Asian grocery store.

Makes about 8 parcels

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups glutinous rice

4 dried lotus leaves cut into half, soaked in hot water for 45 minutes

6 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes (reserve the liquid)

1/4 cup dried shrimp, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes (reserve the liquid)

For the marinated chicken

2 chicken thighs, chopped into chunks

1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine

1 tbsp light soy

1 tbsp dark soy

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder

1 tsp ground white pepper

The rest

1 thumb sized piece ginger, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 heaped tbsp mushroom XO

2 lap cheong (cured Chinese sausage, found in the Asian aisle at most supermarkets), sliced into 1cm pieces

Sesame oil

For the seasoning sauce

1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp light soy

1 tbsp cornstarch

Vegetable oil

Salt flakes

White pepper, ground

Method

Rinse the rice thoroughly and then place in a rice cooker and cover with the reserved mushroom and shrimp liquid to one knuckle above the rice, cover and cook.

Place the chicken pieces in a clean bowl and add the marinade ingredients, combine thoroughly. Set aside for 15-20 minutes. When the mushrooms and shrimp are soft, squeeze any excess moisture from them and give them a rough chop.

In a heavy based pan or wok on medium to high heat. Add about a teaspoon of vegetable oil, then add the chopped lap cheong and shrimp. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes until fragrant and bubbling, then remove from pan and set aside. Add another good slug of vegetable oil to the pan, then add the ginger and garlic, and stir fry briefly, to allow the flavours to infuse into the oil. Add the chicken and stir fry for 3 minutes (it will be ‘just’ cooked for now, but they will finish cooking once steamed in their parcels). Add the mushroom XO and a few drops of sesame oil, then stir to combine, then pour in the cup of reserved mushroom/shrimp water. Add the seasoning sauce ingredients; shaoxing, oyster and soy sauces as well as the chopped shiitakes and stir to combine. Dissolve the cornstarch in a tablespoon of water and whisk into the sauce, to thicken. Add the lap cheong and shrimp mixture back to the pan, season with white pepper to taste and set aside (the mixture should be salty enough from the sauces).

Next, prepare the rice. Drain the sauce from the filling mixture and pour it into the rice, combine well.

When ready to assemble, trim the hard stem part of the lotus leaves to allow the parcels to fold easily. Place about a third of a cup or so of rice into the centre and flatten out to make a bed for your filling. Place a spoonful of the filling on top. Cover with about the same amount of rice, then fold in the two opposite sides of the parcel, then the other two, to form a sealed parcel. Flip over, so the edges are underneath, and set aside. Continue until all parcels are made; you should be able to make about 8 or so parcels or more, if you go smaller.

Steam the parcels for 20 minutes in a bamboo steamer, and they’re ready to eat! You can also cool them after steaming and store them in the freezer. Throw them straight into a steamer straight from frozen for 20-25 minutes when you’re ready to eat.

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