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...

Italian Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4

I’m not sure how you couldn’t love meatballs and I’m especially unsure how you couldn’t love these ones: with the herbs, the cheeses, the pine nuts (and some extra pistachios we added) and more grated Parmesan to serve, they’re awesome.

Prepare the meat mixture in the morning, head out to lunch and come Saturday night, open a bottle of red, put some music on and enjoy some truly excellent meatballs and sauce.

Seriously, they’re excellent.

Ingredients

3/4 cup olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
2/3 cup pine nuts, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
40gm parsley, roughly chopped
5g basil or rosemary, roughly chopped
2 tsp fennel seeds
2/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (plus extra to serve)
Grated zest of 1 large lemon
1 egg
500gm minced pork or beef

Sauce

2 x 400gm tinned tomatoes
1/2 cup red wine

Method

  1. Heat half the olive oil in a saucepan and cook the onion and pine nuts over a low heat until the onion is soft and the pine nuts are golden brown. Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes more and then set aside to cool.
  2. Put the herbs, fennel seeds, breadcrumbs, ricotta, Parmesan, lemon zest and egg in a bowl and add the mince. Add the cooled onion mixture, season well with salt and freshly cracked pepper and mix until all the ingredients are combined. Set aside the mixture to rest in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight.
  3. Roll the meatballs about the size of a walnut and flatten slightly to make it easier to cook on both sides.
  4. Heat the remaining olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the meatballs until golden on both sides; do two batches if necessary in order to avoid overcrowding. Remove and set aside.
  5. For the sauce: Add the tinned tomatoes and wine to the saucepan over a medium heat, breaking up the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes. Gently add the meatballs to the sauce and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook for another 10 minutes.
  6. Serve with a good sprinkling of Parmesan and some fresh basil leaves.

Hyderabad baked herby chicken korma

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4

This is the second dish we have cooked from the wonderful I Love India cookbook and it really does take the otherwise dull Chicken Korma from zero to hero.

The curry is mild, though it’s aroma and creaminess, the fact it is baked… and the fact that you serve it with some thinly sliced baked potatoes make this so much fun.

Your guests will never see it coming.

Not least because you prep the whole thing the night before, pop it all into a baking dish and 45 minutes later, dinner is served.

Just make sure you brown the top and have plenty of rice to mop it all up.

Yum!

(I have varied the recipe slightly and the method reflects it: all in the name of making it slightly easier the night before.)

Ingredients

1 1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, roughly chopped
6 large garlic cloves, roughly chi
1 cup Greek yoghurt
Salt and freshly ground pepper
8 chicken thigh/breast (around 1.2kg), cut into large pieces
4 tbsp desiccated coconut
Vegetable oil
2 red onions, finely sliced
1 1/3 packed cup coriander leaves and stalks, more to serve
3/4 packed cup mint leaves
1 tbsp garam masala
2 tsp lemon juice
4 green chillis, chopped
4 tbsp light cream

Method

  1. In a blender, blend the ginger, garlic and yoghurt and 1 tsp of salt. Marinate the chicken in the yoghurt mixture for 1 hour. Meanwhile, pound the coconut in a mortar and pestle until it is powdery.
  2. Heat 4cm of oil in a small-ish saucepan over a medium heat, add the onions and fry until golden and crispy. Drain from the oil and set aside.
  3. Set aside a quarter of the onions as a garnish and place the rest in the same blender used to blend the yoghurt. Add 2tbsp of the onion cooking oil, the herb, coconut, garam masala, lemon juice and chilli. Blend until smooth. Pour over the chicken and mix well, leaving it overnight to marinate.
  4. Heat the oven to 180c and place the chicken and marinade in a large baking dish that can take the chicken in a single layer.
  5. Bake for 45 minutes ensuring that the top is golden; adjust your oven or grill to achieve this.
  6. Stir in the cream; adjust the seasoning and lemon juice to taste.
  7. Serve hot, sprinkled with the reserved onions and coriander, sliced baked potatoes and rice.

Anjum Anand’s Mumbai Roadside Hot Lamb Sandwich

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 2

Well, this is pretty epic.

Saturday night after a long lunch epic.

Epic, as in spicy Indian mince lamb, sandwiched in baita roti and pan fried.

The recipe is from a wonderful book, I Love India by Anjum Anand, an incredibly fresh and indulgent cookbook where there is literally not one recipe we wouldn’t cook. If you love Indian and you love a Saturday-night, this book will blow your mind.

Anyway, this is an epic recipe as I said and one you should definitely line up for your next big Saturday night.

Ingredients

For the meat filling

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
200gm minced lamb
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated
1/2 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 green chilli, finely chopped including seeds
1 small tomato, chopped
2/3 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp garam masala
Salt
1 small egg
Handful of chopped coriander leaves

For the wrap and to serve

Salt
2/3 cup plain flour
1 tsp vegetable oil
5 tbsp chutney

Method

  1. Heat half the oil in a large frying pan, add the onion and cook for 5 minutes over a medium heat. Add the mince, garlic, ginger, chilli, tomato, spices and salt. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook until the meat is soft and the excess liquid has evaporated; give the pan an occasional stir, breaking up the meat during the 20 minutes or so of cooking. Drain off any excess fat and set aside.
  2. Meanwhile, make the dough: add the salt to the flour, with the oil and around 1/4 cup water. Knead until smooth ensuring that it isn’t too soft. Cover with a damp kitchen cloth until the lamb is done.
  3. Whisk the egg with a little salt and the coriander. Divide the dough in half and roll out 20 – 23cm squares, trying to roll the outer 3cm thinner than the rest.
  4. Heat a large fry-pan gently and add the remaining oil.
  5. Quickly make the stuffed rotis: place half the filling in the center of each flatbread, leaving a 7.5cm border along the edges. Spoon 3 tbsp of the egg over each. Bring down the upper edge, fold in the sides and the lower edge to enclose the filling, forming into a flat-ish square.
  6. Place straight into the hot pan, seams side down and cook until golden on both sides. Serve hot with the chutney.

Banc’s Sweet Corn and Basil Soup

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4

This is a truly sublime soup and one we have served plenty of times at the beginning of a dinner party.

It is from the famous Sydney restaurant, Banc.

We have served it both hot and cold and plenty of times, we have been asked for more. Indeed, we had a cook-off with a mate a few years back where we both did three courses each and this soup was a comprehensive point-scorer in my favour.

Here’s what the prep looks like when you’re cooking it for 31+ friends (!!!) at our long lunch/wedding:

Prepare it beforehand and chill in the fridge.

And seriously blow them all away.

Ingredients

4 fresh corn cobs
200gm diced onions
50ml cream
50ml diced butter
1 small bunch fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

  1. The stock: Peel and remove all the outer stalks from the cobs. Using a knife, remove all the corn kernels from the cobs and reserve. Cut the cobs in half.
  2. In a heavy-based pan, melt half the butter and add half of the diced onion. Sweat the onion for 5 minutes on a medium heat without allowing it to colour. Add the cobs and a good pinch of salt and cook for a further 5 minutes without browning.
  3. Add 1.5 litres of water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the stock to infuse for a further 30 minutes before passing it through a fine sieve, discarding the cobs and onions
  4. The soup: In a heavy-based pan melt the remaining butter and add the remaining diced onion. Sweat the onion for 5 minutes on a medium heat without allowing to colour. Add the corn kernels and a good pinch of salt and cook for a further 5 minutes.
  5. Add the corn stock and simmer for 20 – 25 minutes until the corn kernels are tender. Pour in the cream and continue to cook for 5 more minutes.
  6. Remove from the heat and blend the soup in a blender until smooth. Add roughly chopped basil and season with salt and pepper. Leave the soup for at least an hour – ideally overnight in the fridge – to allow the flavours to infuse, before passing the soup through a fine sieve, pressing hard on the corn to extract as much flavour as possible. Season once more and serve hot or cold.

Abbacchio Alla Romana (Roman Roast Lamb)

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

A leg of lamb together with anchovies was a revelation to me quite some years ago when I cooked a Matt Evans dish where the lamb was liberally smothered in garlic and anchovies.

And so you have this recipe, where you really can make a ding on the otherwise great – though boring – leg of lamb.

I’d do it on the BBQ next time because chargrilled lamb is just so wonderful, though I wouldn’t change the paste. Or the anchovies.

Serve with some roast potato wedges and maybe some beans, tossed with butter, Parmesan and breadcrumbs.

Live the lamb life.

Ingredients

1 x 2.5kg lamb leg, bone in
¼ cup rosemary leaves

¼ cup sage leaves
8 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
4 anchovies in oil, drained
¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
1 cup dry white wine
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper

Method

  1. Using a sharp knife, make deep cuts into the lamb leg, 3cm apart. Cut almost to the bone and set aside.
  2. Combine herbs, garlic and 1 tsp salt in a mortar and pestle and grind to a fine paste. Add the anchovies, grind into a paste and then stir in the vinegar and remaining oil.
  3. Place the lamb in a large bowl and rub the paste over the lamb, pushing as much into the incisions as possible. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
  4. Preheat the oven to 220c. Remove the lamb from the refrigerator 1 hour prior to cooking. Place the lamb in a deep roasting pan, pour in the wine, drizzle with extra oil and season with pepper.
  5. Roast for 20 minutes and then reduce the heat to 180c and cook for 1 hour for medium or until your liking.
  6. Set aside to reset, loosely covered in foil, for 20 minutes.
  7. Slice and enjoy!

Thai-style Chicken Meatballs in Broth

.Reading time 1 minute.


Serves: 4
Another simple, successful, David Herbert weekday number… healthy too.

Keep the calories for the weekend.

Ingredients

  • 500gm chicken mince
  • 2 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
  • 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
  • 1 small chilli chopped
  • 1 lemongrass stalk, tough outer leaves discarded, soft inner core finely chopped
  • 2 tsp cornflour
  • Vegetable oil

For the broth

  • 1.5 ltr chicken stock
  • 2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
  • 2 star anise
  • 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
  • 100gm thin egg or rice noodles
  • 4 spring onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 tbsp chopped Thai basil
  • Soy sauce to taste

To garnish

  • 1 small red chilli, sliced
  • Coriander and mint leaves
  • Lime wedges

Method

  1. For the broth: bring the stock to the boil and add the fish sauce, star anise and ginger and gently simmer for 10 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, combine the meatball ingredients; season and shape into walnut-sized balls.
  3. Heat a little vegetable oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and fry the meatballs for 5 minutes until golden brown. When they are almost cooked, add the noodles to the broth and cook for one minute and then add the spring onions, Thai basil, soy sauce and meatballs. Simmer for 2 – 3 minutes.
  4. Garnish with chilli, herbs and lime wedges.

The French Laundry’s Creamy Lobster Broth

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

The French Laundry is one of America’s best and most well-known restaurants.

Driving through the Napa Valley and having lunch at The French Laundry is most definitely on my bucket list.

Thoma Keller, the man behind The French Laundry has another restaurant in New York called Perse and Nat and I agree that it was the finest dining experience either of us had ever had. 11/10.

Thomas Keller is a genius.

We have had The French Laundry cookbook for a number of years though we had only ever cooked one thing in it: Yabba Dabba Doo, an incredible standing rib with Pommes Anna and a Bordelaise Sauce.

Now we have done two… this classic broth which is to die for.

Rather than live lobsters, I purchased tails and set aside the meat for another dish. I then supplemented the lesser lobster shell with the prawn shells from 24 prawns.

It was sublime I know this is something we will do again for our next dinner party.

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup canola oil
  • 3 lobster bodies, cut into quarters
  • 1 ½ cups chopped tomatoes
  • ½ cup chopped carrots
  • 1 bunch tarragon
  • 2 cups heavy cream

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy saucepan and sear the lobster parts for a few minutes until they turn red.
  2. Add the tomatoes, carrots, tarragon and cover the lobster parts and vegetables with water. Bring to the boil, skimming off any impurities that float to the top.
  3. Reduce the heat and simmer for an hour.
  4. Strain the stock, pushing as much liquid through as possible. Strain the liquid again through a fine strainer and pour the liquid into a clean pan.
  5. Return the strained liquid to the heat and reduce slowly until there is one cup of liquid left. Add the heavy cream and continue to simmer until there is 2 cups left.
  6. Strain once more and refrigerate until needed.
  7. Slowly reheat and serve.

Paprika Chicken with Pico de Gallo

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

This Frank Camorra dish is a doozy.

Super simple, super healthy (haloumi aside I guess), super weekday cooking.

It is Monday night in a nutshell when you need a glimmer of hope – and possibly a vino – to know that Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are within reach.

Save the calories for Friday night and start the week with a Mexican-style chicken breast.

(We used the leftover Pico de Gallo with some pan-fried tuna the next night, adding olives and chopped preserved lemons… two for one and another weekday win!)

Ingredients

1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 chicken breasts
4 large ripe tomatoes, diced
1 Spanish onion, finely diced
½ bunch coriander, leaf and stalk chopped
1 Jalapeno chilli, finely diced
2 limes, juiced
400gm haloumi cheese
Salt
Salad greens to serve

Method

  1. Mix the paprika and oil in a bowl; add the chicken and mix well until coated. Cover with clingwrap and leave to marinate for an hour.
  2. Add the tomatoes, onion, coriander, chilli and lime juice to a bowl and mix well.
  3. Heat the barbeque or grill. When hot, grill the chicken until well coloured on both sides and cooked through.
  4. Cut the haloumi into 4 eve slices and grill for a few minutes on each side. Cut into smaller pieces.
  5. Slice the chicken breasts in half and place on your plates. Place the cut haloumi around the chicken and then spoon the Pico de Gallo liberally over the chicken.
  6. Serve with the salad greens.

Baked Huevos Rancheros

.Reading time 2 minutes.
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Far enough. We garnished with red chilli rather than green though the point is to garnish and dial it up as much as you can.

Serves: 4

You can’t beat a special weekend breakfast and our favourite is anything with a little spice, tomato and hopefully some chorizo.

This recipe is consistent with a few others I have typed up – beans, chilli, tomato and baked eggs – though that is simply consistent with how much we love this sort of start to a Sunday morning.

With a good coffee or ideally, a good Champagne, this fairly straightforward number will hopefully inspire you to kick-off next Sunday with a bang.

Ingredients

4 flour tortillas
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large red onion, finely chopped
200gm dried chorizo, chopped
400gm can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 long red chilli, seeds removed, chopped plus extra to serve
1 yellow capsicum, chopped
400gm can chopped tomatoes
4 eggs
Sour cream and coriander leaves to serve

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200c. Great 4 ramekins and carefully line with the tortillas.
  2. Heat the oil in a frypan over a low heat and add the onion. Cook for 10 minutes until soft and add the chorizo. Turn up the heat a bit and cook for 5 minutes until starting to crisp. Add the beans, chilli and capsicum and season. Cook for another 5 minutes.
  3. Add the tomatoes and cook until the liquid has reduced and the consistency is thick.
  4. Divide among the tortilla cups, making small wells in the center of each.
  5. Break eggs into the wells. Bake for 20 minutes or until the eggs are just set.
  6. Serve with extra chilli, sour cream, coffee and Champagne.

Roast Lamb with Whipped Feta and Mustard Dressing

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4 – 6

You can’t really go wrong with roast lamb.

As soon as you carve it it, fingers appear to grab pieces and why not? Picking at food is never decorum though roast (or BBQ) lamb is an exception.

It is what roast lamb exists for.

This wonderfully simple dish puts the emphasis on the dressing rather than the roast lamb; no sticks of rosemary and garlic or anchovies here.

And that is just fine.

Accompany with an equally simple parsley and red onion salad and you have the basis of a wonderful dinner on the table.

If you’re lucky, lunch the next day too.

Ingredients

1 boned leg of lamb (around 1.5kg)
Salt and freshly cracked pepper
100gm feta
250gm plain yoghurt
1 heaped tbsp Dijon mustard
2 lemons
4 tsp sumac
½ bunch parsley, leaves torn
1 small red onion, finely sliced

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200c.
  2. Season the lamb and roast for 55 minutes; set aside to rest for 10 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, in a food processor, process the feta, yoghurt, mustard, juice of 1 lemon and 2 tsp sumac until smooth.
  4. For the salad: peel, segment and dice the remaining lemon. In a bowl, combine diced lemon, parsley, onion and remaining sumac.
  5. Carve the lamb and serve drizzled with the feta and mustard dressing and the salad at the side.