Author: Robert Beerworth

I love cooking, wine, travel, my three boys, and two girls, Avalon and my beautiful wife and best friend and cook, Nat...

Nigella’s Chocolate Cloud Cake

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 8

I haven’t watched much Nigella, though the impression I get from the snippets I have seen is that when it comes to desserts, Nigella is all in.

Melted chocolate being poured into more chocolate, whipped cream being folded into egg yolks, zoom in, zoom out, chocolate.

This cake therefore perfectly embodies Nigella and it really couldn’t be any easier a dessert, qualified for a dinner party.

Cook the base in the afternoon, whip the cream and refrigerate and prep just when you’re ready to serve.

Ingredients

250gm dark chocolate
125gm unsalted butter, softened
6 eggs, 2 whole, 4 separated
175gm caster sugar
500ml cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Cocoa powder

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c and butter and line a 23cm springform pan with paper.
  2. Melt the chocolate and stir through the butter until it melts.
  3. Beat the two whole eggs and 4 yolks with 75gm of the caster sugar and then gradually add the chocolate mixture.
  4. Beat the 4 egg whites until foamy and then gradually add the remaining 100gm of sugar and continue beating until the whites hold their shape but are not too stiff.
  5. Fold the whites into the chocolate mixture and bake for 35 – 40 minutes or until the cake has risen and cracked and the top is no longer wobbly.
  6. Beat the cream until soft and then add rather vanilla and continue beating until the cream is firm but not stiff.
  7. Fill the crater of the cake with the cream and then dust the top with cocoa powder.

Pork and Cabbage Gyoza

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Makes: 24

This David Herbert gyoza number is right on the money.

It is exactly what you would expect from a Japanese noshery and the gyoza are dead simple to make.

So simple, we made an extra batch, formed the gyoza and froze them as an easy weeknight meal for the boys.

Rather than heating store-bought mini quiches, do these next time people come around for an afternoon beer.

So good.

Ingredients

Gyoza

150gm pork mince
1 cup finely shredded Chinese cabbage (wombok)
2 spring onions, trimmed, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tsp Japanese soy sauce
2 tsp sake
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp caster sugar
Pinch ground white pepper
24 gyoza or gow gee wrappers
Cornflour

Dipping sauce

3 spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/4 cup low-salt soy sauce
1/2 tsp finely chopped chilli
1/3 cup rice vinegar

Method

  1. To prepare the dipping sauce: mix all of the ingredients and set aside.
  2. For the gyoza, combine the all of the ingredients except the gyoza wrappers and cornflour. Mix well.
  3. Place a gyoza wrapper on a clean surface or in the palm of your hand. Spoon a heaped teaspoon of pork mixture onto the centre of the wrapper. Brush the edge with a little water. Fold to enclose filling; lightly press edge together to make a semi-circular parcel. Use fingertips to pleat the edge 4 or 5 times, keeping the filling in the centre. Place on a plate dusted with cornflour and repeat with the remaining pork mixture and gyoza wrappers.
  4. Heat half the peanut oil over a high heat in a large non-stick frying pan that has a lid. Remove from the heat and arrange half the dumplings over base of the pan. Return to the heat and cook for 3 – 4 minutes or until the bottom of the dumplings is golden. Sprinkle 1 – 2 tablespoons of water evenly over the gyoza. Place the lid on the pan and cook for another 3 – 4 minutes or until the dumplings are cooked through and the water is evaporated.
  5. Take off the heat, remove the gyoza and set aside whilst you repeat the process with the remaining gyoza.
  6. Serve with the dipping sauce or Japanese soy.

Five-cheese and ham triple-decker toastie

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 2

It’s Easter and we are on holidays on the beautiful South Coast of NSW.

A few unstructured days of walking along the beach, sleeping in and opening a Champagne every afternoon around 2.

(Even Max the 10-month old seems to be getting into it, sleeping in until 7.45 and then going back to bed with a bottle.)

With such a theme of relaxation and “who cares?”, it seemed appropriate to have this toastie one evening for dinner. A extraordinary toastie that on every level, tells you to sit down, shut up and just eat it.

For there are plenty of times for chicken breast and salad and abstaining from wine and life.

But Easter isn’t that time.

Which is why, right now, it’s five-cheese, toastie time and nobody here felt guilt or apologised for it*.

(The recipe is from the always reliable, Gourmet Traveller.)

Ingredients

200gm firm ricotta
75gm cheddar, coarsely grated
75gm provolone, coarsely grated
75gm Parmesan, finely grated
200gm buffalo mozzarella, thickly sliced
6 slices, pane di casa bread**
Dijon mustard
Leg ham slices, off the bone
40gm butter, diced

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c.
  2. Stir the ricotta, cheddar, provolone, and Parmesan in a bowl to combine and season to taste. Spread two of the bread slices with the cheese mixture, then top each with another bread slice.
  3. Spread with mustard to taste, top with slices of ham and the mozzarella. Season to taste and sandwich with the remaining 2 slices of bread.
  4. Melt butter in a large, oven-proof frying pan over a medium heat, add sandwiches and fry until browned on the base: 1 – 2 minutes. Carefully turn over and brown the other side, then transfer in the pan to the oven and bake until the cheese is bubbling: 3 – 4 minutes.

Carefully remove from the oven and spoon the remaining butter in the pan over the top of the toasties and serve hot.

* Once you have done this sandwich, please try Matt Preston’s amazing toasted sandwich, something we unironically cooked one NYE evening!

** A rustic, thick crust white Italian bread cooked on a stone. Or try sourdough.

Merguez Meatball Flatbreads

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4

These meatball flatbreads are the bomb.com. We found them on the wonderful Brooklyn Supper blog and only made one or two minor changes.

Every element: meatballs, herby yogurt, the coleslaw and the toasted flatbreads, adds to the whole effect.

It is sort of like that signature sandwich at some new, trendy sandwich bar that has opened in the city. A sandwich that everyone is raving about.

We did this one Saturday evening and it hit every spot. Make sure you have chilled champagne at the side, music playing and the kids in bed and you’re set for the start of a great Saturday night in.

(Better still, send the kids off to grandparents or interstate and have a really great Saturday night in!)

Ingredients

Red cabbage slaw

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
2 cups shredded red cabbage
2 carrots, julienned
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp minced parsley

Herbed yogurt

1 cup whole milk Greek yogurt (do not use low fat)
Pinch sea salt
1/3 cup minced parsley
2 tbsp minced mint leaves
Squeeze lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Merguez Meatballs

1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp coriander seed
1kg lamb mince
3 clove garlic, peeled and minced
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp harissa (from a tube)
2 tbsp canola oil

Flatbreads
Olive oil
Coriander leaves
Sriracha
Lemon wedges

Method

Red Cabbage Slaw

  1. Combine the garlic, lemon juice and vinegar in a large bowl and set aside. Add the vegetables and toss with the lemon juice mixture and sprinkle with sea salt. Cover and set aside at room temperature for an hour or two. Before serving, add salt to taste and toss with the parsley.

Herbed yogurt

  1. Combine the yogurt, salt, herbs, lemon juice and pepper. Taste and add additional salt and lemon juice as needed. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Merguez Meatballs

  1. Heat a small pan over a medium heat and toast the cumin and coriander seeds until fragrant and popping: 1 – 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and grind to a paste.
  2. To make the meatballs, combine the spices, lamb, garlic, paprika and harissa and mix well. Form into golf ball size meatballs and set aside on a clean tray.
  3. Heat oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the meatballs, searing the meatballs all over until cooked through.
  4. Meanwhile, heat another pan over a medium heat and brush one side of the flatbreads with olive oil. Pan fry until crispy and golden and flip and cook the other side.
  5. To assemble, rub the herby yogurt on one side of the toasted flatbread. Add some of the coleslaw and line two or three of the meatballs on top. Drizzle with sriracha and sprinkle with coriander leaves. Serve with the lemon wedges.

Big veal, pork and prosciutto meatballs with Parmesan polenta

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Serves: 6

These are the best meatballs either Nat or I have ever had.

Not only that, there is an agreeable distance between these meatballs and whatever is in second place.

I am not kidding.

These made us so happy and I think there are a few things that contributed to the success.

The original recipe was from Gourmet Traveller though we made a number of tactical (and genius in my opinion!) changes, both to method and ingredients.

If you served these at a dinner party, everyone – everyone – would pin you down al la Paul Newman when his friends locked him in his garage and made him make a barrel of his famous salad dressing.

If you served this at your restaurant, people would say, “Oh, you have to go to Lucio’s and try his big meatballs. They are incredible. They are equal in genius to Paul Newman’s salad dressing and I think it’s because Lucio uses 75/25% veal and pork mince.”

Get started today, let your mince combine in the fridge for 48 hours and open your own Lucio’s for the night!

Ingredients

Sauce

800gm diced, canned tomatoes
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped mixed sage and oregano plus extra to serve
150ml red wine (leaving 600ml for you)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly cracked pepper
Torn mozzarella plus extra to serve

Polenta

1 cup milk plus extra as you go
1 cup chicken stock
2/3 cup polenta
50gm Parmesan, finely grated plus extra to serve
50gm butter, cubed and room temperature
Salt and freshly cracked pepper

Meatballs

750gm veal mince
250gm pork mince
160gm Parmesan, finely grated
120gm coarse fresh breadcrumbs
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 eggs
3 tbsp finely chopped mixed sage and oregano
8 thin prosciutto slices
2 tbsp olive oil

Method

  1. 24 – 48 hours before cooking, combine the meatball mixture except the prosciutto slices and olive oil. Mix well and refrigerate.
  2. Heat some olive oil in a large pan and sauté the onions for 8 minutes or until soft and starting to golden. Add the garlic and continue cooking for 5 minutes, ensuring the garlic doesn’t burn. Add the chopped herbs and cook for 30 seconds and then add the diced tomatoes and red wine. Simmer over a low heat for 40 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, commence the polenta: in a saucepan, bring the milk and stock to the point of scalding though not boiling. Slowly whisk in the polenta and keep whisking for 45 – 60 minutes, adding small amounts of milk as need be, until the polenta is no grainy and you have a thick polenta mixture.
  4. Remove from the heat and stir in the Parmesan and butter, checking for seasoning. Set aside.
  5. While the polenta is cooking, divide the mince into eight and roll into large meatballs. Wrap a piece of prosciutto around each.
  6. Heat olive oil over a medium-high heat and cook the meatballs on each side, making an effort to cook and caramelise the prosciutto: around 10 minutes. Transfer to the pan with the tomato mixture, turning occasionally until cooked through. 5 minutes before serving, drop some of the torn mozzarella into the sauce to melt.
  7. To serve, dollop some polenta onto your plates. Ladle a meatball on top with sauce. Sprinkle chopped herbs, grated Parmesan and torn mozzarella on top and serve.

Low Calorie Margarita

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 2

Nat and I are complete suckers for Margaritas – the frozen type are especially amazing to me – and at an afternoon/evening with our good friends Tom and Lisa, we were offered up some wonderful Margaritas… without the sugar.

The irony of typing this cocktail up is that the only other cocktail we have published was an Espresso Martini Nat whipped up in Koh Samui (Thailand) when we were there for Tom’s 40th.

Seems cocktails are a theme when we get together!

Anyway, the key point of this Margarita is the use of a low-calorie sweetener.

We mixed Stevia with some boiling water and then added cold water until we had the sweetness right. Pour into a bottle and refrigerate.

It tastes the same, looks the same and feels the same.

It’s just that you can have one or two more than you could with the traditional calorie approach.

Ingredients

4 shots tequila
2 shots fresh lime juice
2 shots Stevia mixture
Salt
Lots of ice

Method

  1. Fill two (Margarita) glasses with ice and allow the glasses to cool for a minute or two.
  2. Spread salt on a dry surface; empty the ice from the glasses and salt the rims of the glasses.
  3. Combine the tequila, lime juice and Stevia mixture in a cocktail shaker. Top with lots of ice and shake rigorously for a minute.
  4. Pour the Margarita mixture through the strainer into the glasses.
  5. Enjoy

Oliver’s Jamie Oliver’s Chicken and Mango Cups

.Reading time 1 minute.

GUEST POST: OLIVER DOG

Serves: 2

I’m Oliver and I am 10 years old and I am Robby Dog’s eldest son. I got cooking from my dad, and I love to help him with his cooking at home. At Christmas my mum got me the Jamie Oliver 5 ingredient cook book.

So any who, back to my dish, it is made for summer and you can really only make it in summer. It is also was one of the first dishes I made from the book and I have only made it three times before.

It is personally my favourite so far.

So, I and we (my family) hope you enjoy.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, flattened to 2cm
1 mango, peeled and cubed, remaining pulp and juice set aside
2 tbsp of Hoisin sauce
1 bunch of cress (or rocket)
1 iceberg lettuce, leaves separated: lettuce cups

Method

  1. Set aside the cubed mango, cress and lettuce cups.
  2. Combine the hoisin sauce and mango pulp and juice.
  3. Heat a large pan over a medium heat and add some olive oil. Season the flattened chicken and then pan fry the chicken until browned on both sides and cooked through.
  4. Slice the cooked chicken into thin strips.
  5. Serve with the cubed mango, cress, mango/hoisin sauce and the lettuce cups.

Thomas Keller’s “Yabba Dabba Do”

.Reading time 8 minutes.

Serves: 2 – 3

Yabba Dabba Do: Roasted Rib Steak with Golden Chanterelles, Pommes Anna and Bordelaise Sauce

For me at least, nothing beats a beautiful piece of standing rib steak and some amazing potatoes.

It’s almost a primal thing.

This Thomas Keller dish – one I have cooked a few times – is just wonderful and turns any Saturday or Sunday lunch into a long afternoon of wine, laughter and smiles. You just know something magic is going to happen when someone serves you an enormous standing rib!

A few points before you start:

  • The recipe asks for veal stock. I know I should invest the time and make a veal stock, though I so rarely use it. You will struggle to find veal stock so try and find veal glaze or veal jus and add a little bit and then water until you get the flavour of stock.
  • The recipe asks for Yukon Gold potatoes. A fruit-and-veg friend of Nat’s (I am serious) told her that this variety of potato is uncommon in Australia and to substitute… white potatoes.
  • The recipe asks for Chanterelle Mushrooms. Not only are these apparently the most expensive mushroom you can buy (not withstanding truffles), you can’t buy them. Well, you can’t buy them easily in Australia. We used portobellos and they were fine. It is after all the beef, potatoes and the sauce you came for.

Ingredients

Cote de Boeuf (Beef Rib)

1 double-cut rib steak (about 1kg or so)
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
Canola oil
4 tbsp unsalted butter

Bordelaise Sauce

1 cup red wine, such as a Cabernet Sauvignon
1/3 cup sliced shallots (French onions)
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
10 sprigs Italian parsley
2 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp sliced garlic
6 black peppercorns
1 cup Veal Stock

Pommes Anna

10 pitted prunes
1 cup Chicken Stock
1 tbsp minced shallots (French onions)
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1 kg Yukon Gold potatoes
6 tablespoons Clarified Butter (we used ghee)

Chanterelle Mushrooms

1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 generous cup chanterelle mushrooms, washed, stems peeled and cut into 3cm pieces
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Thyme sprigs
A green vegetable: we did broccolini sautéed with garlic

Method

  1. Sprinkle all sides of the beef liberally with salt and pepper. Place on a plate and refrigerate for 1 day to allow the flavours to develop.
  2. One hour before cooking, remove the beef from the refrigerator to bring it to room temperature.

For the Bordelaise Sauce

  1. In a medium saucepan, bring the wine, vegetables, parsley, thyme, bay leaf and garlic to a simmer and simmer until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. Add the peppercorns and veal stock and simmer for another 10 – 15 minutes or until the stock is reduced to a sauce consistency (abut 1/2 cup).
  2. Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer into a small saucepan.

For the Pommes Anna

  1. Place the prunes and chicken stock in a small saucepan; the prunes should just be covered with liquid.
  2. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes or until the liquid has evaporated and the prunes are very soft. Remove the prunes to a chopping board and finely chop them. Add the shallots and salt to taste.
  3. Preheat the oven to 180c.
  4. Peel the potatoes and trim into cylinders that are 5cm in diameter. Using a mandoline, cut the potatoes into 1mm slices and place the slices in a bowl of cold water for a minute to remove some of the starch. Drain and dry on paper towel.
  5. Put 2 tbsp of the clarified butter in a 20cm ovenproof non-stick skillet. Place a slice of potato in the center of the pan; lay more potato slices around the edge of the pan, overlapping them by half, until you have completely circled the pan. Continue with another overlapping circle inside the first. When the entire pan is circled by potato, season and repeat again with another layer of circled potato.
  6. Spread half the prune mixture over the potatoes leaving a 2cm border at the edges. Make 2 more circled layers of potato, spread the remaining prune mixture and then 2 more circled layers of potato.
  7. Pour the remaining 1/4 cup clarified butter over the potatoes and place the skillet over a medium-low heat.
  8. Once the butter begins to bubble, cook for 3 – 4 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally to ensure the potatoes are not sticking.
  9. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for around 30 minutes or until the potatoes are well browned and crisp.
  10. When ready to serve, invert the pan onto a board and cut into wedges.

For the steak

  1. Whilst the potatoes are cooking, pat the steak dry and wrap the bones in aluminium foil to prevent from burning.
  2. Heat the 3 tbsp of the canola oil in a heavy ovenproof pan over a high heat. Add the steak and sear it for 4 to 5 minutes to until it is dark brown and crusty on the bottom. Flip the steak and brown the second side for 2 – 3 minutes.
  3. Pour off most of the oil and add the butter to the pan. Place the pan in the oven and roast for 5 minutes. Baste the meat with the butter and pan juices, turn the steak over, sprinkle with salt and continue to cook, basting every 5 minutes for about 20 – 25 minute or until a thermometer reads 40c.
  4. Remove from the oven and let the meat rest in the pan for 10 minutes.

For the Chanterelle Mushrooms

  1. Heat the butter in a skillet over a medium heat.
  2. Add the mushrooms, season and cook for about 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender and any liquid has evaporated.

To complete

  1. Rewarm the sauce over a low heat.
  2. Remove the string from the steak and cut the meat against the grain into 1 – 2cm slices.
  3. Plate the steak on a plate, arrange the mushrooms over the steak, spoon over some of the sauce and garnish with thyme sprigs and the mushroom at the side.

Matt Preston’s World’s Best Rissoles

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

I get the feeling that rissoles are back in vogue.

And thank you for that!

They still have the stigma of being a daggy, lazy dinner – left behind in the wave of MasterChef and salmon-three-ways – though it is the nostalgia and honesty of the rissole that now makes it on trend.

These Matt Preston rissoles are really good and served with a puréed mash and buttered peas, they closed off a weekend of cooking perfectly.

For lunch, Nat made Thomas Keller’s Cauliflower Panna Cotta with an Oyster Jelly and Bulgar Caviar; the night before, we made handmade noodles for a fusion Chinese/Middle Eastern dish.

Which is exactly why we needed these rissoles and why rissoles are what you need to hold back the endless waves of culinary complexity and sous videing. Enough is enough!

Enjoy.

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, coarsely grated
1 zucchini, coarsely grated
800gm lamb mince
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 heaped tbsp of whatever European herbs you have: basil, oregano, parsley, coriander, tarragon or majoram, though not sage or mint
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 egg
Sea salty and freshly cracked pepper
1/4 cup mint jelly
2 tbsp malt vinegar (we used black vinegar)
Mash (into which we mixed two finely chopped raw French onions)
Buttered peas

Method

  1. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat; add the onions, carrot and zucchini, and cook, stirring for 5 minutes until everything softens. Set aside to cool.
  2. Add the mince, tomato sauce, herbs, oats and egg to the vegetable mixture and season. Mix well using your (clean) hands until well combined. Shape into 12 rissoles.
  3. Heat the remaining oil in the pan. Add the rissoles in batches a cook for 5 minutes each side or until cooked through. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.
  4. Add the mint jelly and vinegar to the pan and stir over a medium heat until the jelly melts. Return the rissoles and toss in the liquid for 2 minutes until coasted, sticky and glossy.
  5. Serve with mash and peas.

Jamie Oliver’s Pork Afelia

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 8

Well, it pretty much doesn’t get easier or better than this for a slow Sunday night on the couch with a bottle of red.

Literally.

And we mean better just as much as easier.

It is awesome! And better.

Ingredients

1 onion, peeled and sliced into onion rings
3 garlic gloves, peeled and sliced thinly lengthways
2 tbsp coriander seeds, lightly crushed
4 tbsp olive oil
1.5kg pork shoulder, cut into 5cm pieces
375ml dry red wine
200ml passata
Parmesan cheese to serve
Rice or polenta to serve

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy saucepan over a medium heat and cook the pork in batches, until browned on all sides. Set aside.
  2. Add the onion, garlic and crushed coriander seeds to the pan and cook until softened.
  3. Return the pork to the pan and add the wine and passata. Bring to the boil, lower to a simmer, season and cover for 2 hours or more.
  4. When reduced, rich and the pork is to die for, serve on rice (or polenta) with plenty of shaved Parmesan to serve.
  5. Fuck you Monday.