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...

Herb-Marinated Rack of Lamb

.Reading time 1 minute.

Herb-Marinated Rack of Lamb

Serves: 4

An easy, spring dinner… that looks a bit fancy and tastes just great, like any rack of lamb is prone to do.

I’d consider doing it on the BBQ next time to get a char-grilled crust going, though as a set-and-forget, see you in 30 minutes number, the oven is just fine.

Served with some twice-cooked roasted baby potatoes and a wonderful salad of Bulgar and Pomegranate.

Ingredients

4 garlic cloves
½ cup fresh mint leaves
½ cup fresh basil leaves
Pinch or two of dried chilli flakes
Pinch or two of salt
6 tbsp olive oil
2 well-trimmed racks of lamb (8 bones each)

Method

  1. Combine garlic, mint, basil, chilli, salt and oil in a food processor to form a thick paste.
  2. Coat the lamb in the paste and marinate for a few hours.
  3. Heat the oven to 180c; transfer the lamb to a baking tray ad roast for 35 – 40 minutes.
  4. Rest for 5 minutes and slice the lamb between the bones for individual cutlets.

Indian Beef Short Rib Curry

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4 – 6

This is a wonderful, western take on an Indian curry.

From the book – and restaurant – The Blue Ducks, it isn’t just the beef short rib that makes it so rich and special, though that is a pretty good start.

It’s that everything just works, right down to the late inclusion of the chickpeas, yogurt and coriander.

It really is wonderful.

I’ve written in the past about various curries that have changed the dial.

This is undoubtedly one of them and one that you should definitely try as a Sunday night treat.

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt flakes and freshly ground pepper
1.5kg – 2kg beef short ribs
2 onions, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 star anise
½ tsp chilli powder
1 cinnamon stick
5cm piece of ginger, finely grated
400gm can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp honey
500ml chicken stock
400gm can chickpeas, drained
100gm natural yoghurt
½ bunch of coriander, leaves picked

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c.
  2. Heat the oil in a large, heavy saucepan over a medium-high heat; season the ribs and brown on all sides. Remove the ribs and reduce the heat the medium. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes until soft. Add the spices and ginger and cook for a few more minutes, stirring.
  3. Return the ribs to the dish, add the tomatoes, honey, stock and 400ml of water. Cover the pan and place in the oven for 3 hours; until the meat completely comes away from the bone.
  4. Remove the ribs from the dish and remove all bones, sinew and fat, discarding all but the meat; reduce the consistency of the remaining liquid on the stove until thickened. Once reduced, add the chickpeas to heat through and then the beef, half the yoghurt and half the coriander.
  5. Serve on rice with a dollop of the remaining yoghurt and coriander.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies with Flax

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 20 – 40 cookies

Until I wrote up this recipe, I wasn’t entirely sure what flax was, except to have used it in the protein balls we periodically make for snacks.

Found in the healthy section of Coles or Woolies, I assumed – rightly it turns out – that it was one of the many healthy grains/seeds/whatever superfoods we had largely ignored until recently.

Seriously right I was.

The butter and sugar in these cookies probably don’t win them a dieting star, though they win a few other stars; namely, that they are great cookies and namely, that they have this incredible flax stuff throughout.

So Flax?

It is basically amazing and we have – apparently – been eating it for years.

Super nutritious, super high in fiber, low in carbs, packed full of amazing stuff and associated with everything from weight loss to hair gain.

The list of benefits simply doesn’t end!

Anyway, we just wanted cookies for our lunch and the boys’ lunch and it seems, if you can add flax, you’ve made yourself a super cookie.

Add the butter and sugar and who am I to disagree!?

P.S. Boys agree!

Ingredients

2 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup flax seed meal
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
225gm unsalted butter
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup raised
¼ cup whole flax seeds

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, flaxseed meal, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla, manually or with a hand mixer. Beat until the mixture is fluffy.
  3. Combine the two mixtures, stirring until the flour is fully incorporated, then add the oats, raisins, and flax seeds. Mix well, but don’t over mix.
  4. Prepare a baking sheet with baking paper. Scoop out heaping tablespoons of cookie dough, and gently form each into a ball, and place them 5cm apart on the baking sheet. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with whole flax seeds. Bake for 11-14 minutes, uncovered, until the cookies turn golden brown (but are still moist in the middle). Rotate the baking sheet halfway through to ensure evenly baked cookies.
  5. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 3 to 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack or towel to cool. If using only one baking sheet, repeat until you’ve used all of the dough.

Egg Noodles with Rich Chicken Curry Sauce (Khao Soi)

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 2 – 3 generous servings

This Burmese dish might seem unusual – curry and noodles – though could there be a better combination?

It isn’t a complex dish – just putting it out there – though that is its thing.

It is super easy to prepare, looks great, tastes great and the more crazy you go with the coriander, lime juice, peanuts, snow pea sprouts, fried shallots, spring onions…

You get the point.

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 shallot, chopped
1 – 3 tbsp Thai red curry paste (2 is pretty darn hot)
2 tbsp curry powder
1 cup coconut milk
½ cup chicken stock
2 boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into bite-size pieces (we used 2 chicken breasts)
1 tsp fish sauce
1 ½ tsp sugar
250gm fresh or dried egg noodles

Garnishes

Thinly sliced shallots, raw or fried
Coriander
Roasted chopped peanuts
Lime wedges
Chopped spring onions
Dried chilies
Fried egg noodles

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Add the garlic and chopped shallot and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the curry paste and curry powder and cook for another 30 seconds, stirring constantly.
  3. Add the coconut milk, chicken broth, chicken thighs, fish sauce, and sugar. Stir everything together, scraping up any curry paste that has stuck to the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.
  4. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook noodles according to package directions, timing it so that the noodles will be cooked when the curry is done simmering.
  5. Drain and divide between two bowls. Top with curry and the garnishes of your choice.

Honey Roasted Cashews

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 1 Nat

Well, if you’re going to do it, do it right!

Cashews, butter, honey, sugar, salt and some roasting time.

Right, right?!

These are predictably awesome and predictably outrageous. Worryingly, if you have an air fryer like we do, they’re even more within reach.

Life is short and honey roasted cashews definitely need to be part of it.

Make a batch today and never look back.

Ingredients

1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp honey
300gm cashew nuts
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp sea salt

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (or get your air fryer ready)
  2. Melt the butter on a low heat and add the honey. Stir well until mixed.
  3. Take your sauce off the heat and throw in your cashews. Mix well until they’re completely covered in honey and then turn out onto a lined baking tray, spreading evenly.
  4. Pop in the oven for five minutes and then toss. Repeat again. If they’re still looking pale, repeat once more. Or air fry for 6 minutes.
  5. When they’re golden and toasted, pour into a bowl with the sugar and salt. Mix together, giving the nuts a bit of a shake.
  6. Leave the nuts to cool, stirring occasionally to break them up.
  7. Good luck not eating them in one sitting.

Rick Stein’s British Beef Raj Curry

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4 – 6

This is a really great, Colonial-style curry.

The sultanas and coconut speak to the simplicity and innocence of the British influence – and love – of Indian curry. Something that is so wrong that it is right.

This was one of our many Sunday night curries and it’s spicy, sweet, moorish and just so good.

It has to be done with white rice and a glass of vino – we had a Pinot – and done right, it is the best way to end the week and start the next.

Rick Stein remains one of our favourite curry heros and this is why.

Ingredients

25gm butter
750gm chuck steak, cut into 4cm pieces
2 medium onions, sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1 tsp ground tumeric
1 ½ tbsp garam masala
1 ⅔ tsp salt
600ml beef stock
50gm desiccated coconut
100gm sultanas

Method

  1. Melt the butter in a large, sturdy pan over a medium heat. Add the steak, in batches, and fry for a few minutes until browned and then remove to a plate. Add the onions to the same pan and fry for 10 minutes, or until softened and golden-brown.
  2. Add the garlic and fry for one minute, then return the meat to the pan, along with any juices on the plate. Stir in the chilli powder, turmeric, one tablespoon of the garam masala, and the salt, and cook for one minute.
  3. Add the stock, followed by the coconut and sultanas. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook over a low heat for 45 minutes to an hour or until the beef is tender. Stir in the remaining garam masala and serve.

Matt Preston’s Bolognese

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 6

As much as I would like to cook something different and a little bit fancy each night, that trick doesn’t always work around here.

When Nat wants comfort and the boys want comfort, that’s what you do.

This bolognese is the best of both worlds.

It’s comfortable and yet, with the excellent soffritto and four or five hours of cooking time, it is certainly on the fancier side of bolognese. Sizzler buffet this is not.

Next time, I’d try to dial it up further with some milk to the soffritto and maybe some anchovies; perhaps veal and pork mince rather than just beef, though the bacon makes a nice touch.

As it was, it was more than fine.

The boys wolfed it down and Oliver asked for it in his lunchbox. Nat said it was the best she has ever had.

This dish won’t change the world though I know I will be asked to cook it again and again and I can certainly live with that!

Ingredients

Olive oil
40g butter
2 medium carrots, diced small
3 medium brown onions, diced small
4 bacon rashers cut into fingernail size tiles
2 celery sticks, diced small
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
4 cloves garlic, peeled, chopped and crushed
3 tbsp tomato paste
1kg beef mince
1 lemon; 4cm piece of peel/rind and then halved for juicing
500ml red wine
3 bay leaves
Splash Worcestershire sauce
2 cans tinned tomatoes
500ml beef stock

1 large pack of egg tagliatelle
150g Italian parmesan cheese, grated
1 loaf crusty bread and a green salad for serving

Method

  1. For the soffritto: Heat a heavy pan over a low-medium heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and the butter and heat.
  2. Saute the onion, carrots and bacon. After a few minutes, add in the celery and cook the vegetables slowly until translucent. Sprinkle over the brown sugar and stir through. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for a further few minutes.
  3. Set the soffritto aside in a bowl.
  4. Add more olive oil to the pan and when hot, brown the mince. Add the browned meat to the soffritto.
  5. Turn up the heat and deglaze the pan with the red wine. When the wine has reduced by half, add back the meat, soffritto, bay leaves and a couple of good dashes of Worcestershire sauce, lemon peel, tomatoes and stock. Stir.
  6. Season with salt and a good squeeze of lemon juice from one half of the lemon. Reserve the other lemon half.
  7. Bring to the boil covered, remove the lid and turn the heat right down. Cook gently for four hours, turning occasionally to ensure it doesn’t burn. Finish the red wine left over in the bottle and put your feet up.
  8. Taste, season and get it thick, rich and dark.
  9. Cook your pasta, make your salad, grate your cheese, break the bread and enjoy!

Beef and curry pie

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 6

When Nat says ‘type this up’, it means we have a winner.

And this is truly a comfort food, bangers-and-mash winner.

For two reasons.

Firstly, because when I buy a pie, I always look for the curry beef.

Sure, a beef and mushroom pie is almost always amazing and sure, beef curry pies from a patisserie are usually not that great.

But they’re curry. And beef mince.

And there you have reason two.

This beef curry pie is amazing.

Simple yes, comfortable yes, world-changing no, but amazing nonetheless.

I had lunch at Mercardo in Sydney today and there was no end to the wonderful tasting plates and pops of flavour and so forth.

Give me a good damn curry pie however… and you’ve got me.

Ingredients

500gm (extra lean) mince
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
2 tsp vegetable oil
2 medium onion, chopped
2 tbsp curry powder
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
12 tbsp water
1 cup frozen (baby) peas
Puff pastry; 2 – 3 sheets
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180c.
  2. Mix together the beef, soy sauce, sugar and salt until well combined
  3. Heat a heavy saucepan, medium heat and ten add the beef and cook, stirring occasionally to break up the beef until browned and all the liquid has evaporated.
  4. Reserve the beef.
  5. In the saucepan, heat the oil over a low-medium heat and add the onion, stirring until softened; 5 – 10 minutes. Add the curry powder and potatoes and cook until the potatoes are translucent. Add water if the pan dries out, scraping any brown bits from the bottom. Cook until the potatoes are tender.
  6. Return the beef and the the peas to the pan, stir to combine and then cool, stirring the mixture every so often. 30 minutes or so.
  7. Fill a half-size casserole dish with the mixture and then cover with the pastry sheets.
  8. Brush with the egg wash and cook for 30 minutes until golden and puffed.
  9. Enjoy the comfort.

Steak au Poivre Vert

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

“I think I’ll pass on the steak with French sauce” said no one ever.

And it’s true!

Home on Friday night after a few days away and hours and hours of driving, Nat absolutely nailed it.

It was warm, the sun was setting and there is champagne on ice, a wonderful baked brie as a starter and the promise of steak with a French sauce, twice-cooked crispy potatoes and pear, parmesan and rocket salad.

What more could anyone want?!

This recipe is classic French bistro and with the crunchy, golden, baby potatoes (if you haven’t invested in an air fryer, make haste), it was as good as you could expect from a French restaurant.

Surprise someone with this dinner and favours will be owed!

Ingredients

5 eye fillet steaks
3 tbsp green peppercorns
1 – 2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp brand
2 tbsp dry vermouth or white wine
125ml cream
Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Press some peppercorns into both sides of the steaks. Cook the steaks quickly in the butter over high heat.
  2. Flame the steaks with the brandy and remove; set aside to rest. Deglaze the pan with the vermouth or wine.
  3. Crush the remaining peppercorns into the cream Add to the pan and heat through. Season with salt and pepper.

Chinese Egg Noodles with Chicken

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

Yum!

This easy to prep, easy to cook noodle dish is the perfect degree of difficulty you want after a long-weekend.

There isn’t anything about it not to love and the lime adds a beautiful zing.

Ingredients

12 stems broccolini
250gm medium egg noodles
Vegetable oil
50gm unsalted peanuts
2 chicken breasts, sliced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 fresh red chilli, sliced
4 spring onions, sliced
1 – 2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
⅓ cup coriander leaves
1 lime, quartered

Method

  1. Halve broccolini length-ways.
  2. Cook the noodles and drain; toss in a little oil and set aside.
  3. Lightly toast peanuts in a dry frying pan; cool and roughly chop.
  4. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok, add the chicken and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and half of the chilli and cook for 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl.
  5. Add 1tbsp oil to wok and stir-fry the spring onions and broccolini for 2 minutes, then add the cooked noodles and chicken; stir-fry until noodles are warm and the chicken cooked through.Stir through the soy and fish sauces
  6. Divide between 4 bowls, sprinkle over nuts, remaining sliced chili and coriander. Serve with the lime wedges.