Grilled Prawns with Pear & Walnut Salad Grilled prawns with pear and walnut salad is the perfect dish for entertaining as most of the preparation can be done ahead of time, and cooking the prawns only on the shell side ensures they’ll be the juiciest you’ve ever tasted. Prawns oxidise quickly once they’re caught or […]
Char-grilled Five Spice Prawns Char-grilled five spice prawns are a great filling for Vietnamese rice flour crepes, bánh xèo, or served simply with a platter of fresh herbs and leaves – such as perilla, Vietnamese mint, Thai basil, bean sprouts and lettuce – and steamed rice. They can be threaded onto skewers for a barbecue […]
Crispy Octopus with Prickly Ash The Chinese double cooking method of poaching or braising then frying is rarely used with seafood due to its delicate texture. The exception is octopus, which can be tough if not cooked correctly; large octopus tentacles benefit greatly from this technique, but it also works well with baby octopus. Prickly […]
Mini Bánh Mí Banh mi are a take-away mainstay. They’re a healthy quick lunch to grab on the run and fun to serve as finger food or a starter if you turn them into little open sandwiches on slices of baguette. Inspired by leftover bits and pieces from a few weeks recipe testing, I whipped […]
Salade Verte – How To Dress A Green Salad A simple green salad (salade verte in French) is the ideal accompaniment to so many dishes, whether it’s made from just one type of leaf or a mixture of several. It may be simple, but it deserves the same respect as the rest of the meal […]
Bánh Mí I love the way food travels around the world, weaving aspects of one culture into another. The French brought their crisp, fluffy baguettes to Vietnam in the mid-1800s and just over a century later, the Vietnamese brought them to Australia. Now banh mi are one of our take-away mainstays. While they’re a healthy […]
Braised Romaine Lettuce Who knew you could cook lettuce? It’s a revelation to many Aussies, but a traditional side dish in much of Europe. Italians love grilled radicchio and sauteed escarole (curly endive), while the French like braised romaine lettuce (also called cos), often adding tiny new season spring peas (petits pois). You could add […]
Kisir (Turkish Tabouli) I’m a fan of traditional recipes but every now and then I prefer to do things my way. And I’ve always made tabouli with far more cracked wheat than any Lebanese cook ever would. Then I realised I wasn’t making tabbouli, I was making the kisir I enjoyed so much in Turkey. […]
Nasi Goreng Sometimes you want to spend all day in the kitchen cooking up a storm; and sometimes you just want a quick and easy meal using what’s on hand. Either way it has to taste great, right? For the quick and easy times, I love good pantry staples. I always seem to have leftover […]
Asian Warm Beef Salad I love Asian flavours, but don’t have a lot of patience for cooking elaborate Asian dishes. So I love this Asian warm beef salad. It’s easy to toss together, looks impressive and is full of flavour. It can be adapted to use whatever’s on hand (leftover roast beef or steak for […]
