Have a jar or two of Candied Quinces in your larder, some whipped cream or ice cream and you’ll have a delicious dessert on the table in an instant. Or use them, as we’ve done, in our Quince and Almond Cream Cake, or our Candied Quince and Ricotta Cake. Try replacing the rhubarb with Candied Quinces in our Rhubarb, Orange and Almond Tart ….
I make a lovely honey mousse – yes, I know I shouldn’t be saying it myself – but it has a really luscious but melting texture..
n the lead-up to a wedding in the family, (catering for a completely gluten-free reception for 40 people, but more of that later) my husband came home with some shopping, beaming, because he’d managed to score 14 punnets of beautiful strawberries for $7.50...
I’m very lucky to live near the Sydney fish markets. I try to time my shopping to avoid the weekend rush and the madness of the carpark, but in the middle of Chinese New Year...
When I was a child my mother cooked. My father only ever did so when, decked out in one of Mum’s floral aprons and with tongs in hand, he’d hover over the barbecue blackening sausages and chops. They were the days. Despite this evidence to the contrary, Dad claimed to be a cook of quite some accomplishment, and he was always just on the cusp of creating for us his most famous dish – a Sea Pie ….
According to the old proverb: ‘the nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat.’ Leaving metaphorical meanings aside, when we’re talking about the long, slow cooking of meat on the bone, the culinary experts couldn’t agree with the ancients more. There’s not only the buttery bone marrow, they say, but the collagen in the bones themselves that melts to create gelatin. Both end up adding texture and body to carry and enrich the more complex meaty flavours …
Crêpes are lovely things to have as a lunch dish, a light supper or a family meal. They’re easy and fun to make and most people really like them. Especially children. With a delicious nutty flavour, soft texture and crisp edges, our Gluten-free Savoury Buckwheat Crepes could soon become a favourite dish in your household ….
For a slice of Italy at home, go no further than our Ricotta, Cavolo Nero and Salami Torta. Filled with classic Italian flavours and encased in our Revenge Gluten-free Cream Cheese Pastry it’s perfect with a salad for lunch or dinner and could even wing it for brunch, perhaps replacing the salami for bacon or speck ….
It might seem strange but we’ve only posted one other recipe for risotto on our blog. There are so many out there we’ve wondered if the world really needs another … until now. Our Asparagus and Pea Risotto with Stuffed Zucchini Flowers is a celebration of the spring vegetables that are abundant (and cheap) in our markets right now …
This recipe for Tandoori-Spiced Grilled Chicken was given to me years ago by friends who knew I liked to cook. It came in a tiny book, and when I say tiny… I mean miniscule. It was about 50mm square. The book itself has disappeared (that’s how small it was) but a version of this quick, easy recipe lives on. The trick is to make the spice paste in advance. Double the batch and you’ll have a good supply to keep in the fridge at the ready ….
We’re calling this a Pot Au Feu but, really, it’s a simple riff on the French classic, in which beef and beef bones full of marrow are poached, along with vegetables, in stock. We have retained the vegetables and delicious home-made stock but have replaced the beef with tasty gluten-free pork sausages and tender duck breasts and have thrown some sake into the stock for good measure ….
These beautiful little Beluga lentils are my new best friends, particularly when they’re part of this School Prawn and Beluga Lentil Salad. Named for their apparent resemblance to caviar (hmm, really?) Beluga lentils have all the advantages of other lentils, in that they’re packed with protein, iron, potassium, polyphenols, folate and fibre, and they’re also low in kilojoules. That’s not bad for a start ….
A Donburi (meaning ‘bowl’ in Japanese) is a big bowl containing rice topped traditionally with fish, chicken or meat and vegetables simmered in stock. It makes for a hearty meal. In my version I do stick to the big bowl containing rice part of the tradition, and I do top it with fish, chicken or meat and vegetables, I just don’t simmer them in stock, preferring to grill ….
A classic roast has always been a great way to feed a lot of people, but why not try Roasted Barramundi instead the usual lamb or beef. We had our regular gang of ten for a birthday dinner recently and the idea, rather than sweating over a hot stove, was to let the oven do the work. (Okay, confession time, minimal last-minute fuss was the real agenda.) ….
There are many versions of these Cevapi or Cevapcici - Skinless Sausages made throughout the Balkan countries although, since my only connection to these culinary traditions comes from the long-gone waitressing days, there’s no particular claim to authenticity here. What this recipe does promise, though, is very tasty meat, lots of flavour and super-simple preparation ….
Looking in the cupboard one day for ‘Divine Dinner Inspiration’- as you do - I came across a big packet of yellow lentils, moong dhal. Fortunately, there was also a can of coconut milk to be had and putting them together in this dish of Creamy Lentils with Corn was, if not exactly inspired, the logical outcome ….
