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...

Braised Peas and Bacon

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

I served this simple Jill Dupleix braise last night with an even simpler Veal Pillard: preheat your grill to hot, brush veal schnitzels in olive oil and season, grill for 1 minute and serve with a dollop of horseradish and juice from a chargrilled lemon half.

What a success!

The flavours married wonderfully, especially for a cold cold night.

Cook this once and this will become a side you do over and over again.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
3 rashers streaky bacon, diced
2 leeks, trimmed and finely sliced
2 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
100ml white wine
150ml chicken stock
200gm frozen baby peas
1 tbsp mint leaves
1 tbsp butter
Sea salt and pepper

Method

  1. In a pan, cook the bacon over a medium heat until crisp. Set aside.
  2. Heat the oil over a low heat and add the leeks, spring onions and garlic and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
  3. Add the wine and bring to the boil. Add the stock and peas and simmer for 3 minutes.
  4. Return the bacon to the pan with the mint, butter, sea salt and pepper, heat through and serve.

Anne Burrell’s Gnocchi

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4 – 6

This is an exceptional dish.

Visually beautiful, restaurant quality.

My mother gave me the recipe and we cooked it last weekend; my mother said it was the best gnocchi I would ever cook and hands down, she was right.

An essential key to it is the gnocchi, where instead of mixing through the flour when the gnocchi is hot, in this recipe, you allow the gnocchi to cool completely. The result is a light and fluffy gnocchi, completely unlike the hard, floury gnocchi we are so used to eating.

It is almost as if they are not there.

The sauce is fabulous; rich, warm, filling.

With some shaved pecorino to serve, this is a dinner party keeper where everyone will ask you for the recipe only a few bites in. It just comes together.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

5 large baking or mashing potatoes
2 eggs
Grated parmesan
2+ cups flour
Salt and pepper
1½ cups frozen peas, defrosted
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic, smashed
Pinch of chili flakes
125gm prosciutto, cut into lardons
2 cups Swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
1 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp butter
½ bunch chives, chopped

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 C and bake the potatoes for 1 hour or until tender.
  2. While the potatoes are still hot peel and pass them through a ricer or food mill on to an oven tray lined with baking paper, and then refrigerate until very cold.
  3. Beat together the eggs, ¾ cup grated Parmesan and 1+ tbsp salt and pour on to the potatoes. Cover the potatoes with 2+ cups flour and mix all together with fingers until the dough is homogeneous and slightly moist, adding more flour (and salt) if necessary.
  4. Form the dough into long ropes about 3cm thick, cut into 2 cm lengths, cover generously with flour, place in a single layer on paper dusted with flour and either use or freeze immediately.  [NB: once frozen the gnocchi can be stored in plastic bags indefinitely, and can go directly from the freezer into salted boiling water.]
  5. Sauté the garlic and chilli flakes in some olive oil and then discard the garlic when it becomes golden brown.
  6. Add the prosciutto and sauté until it begins to become crispy.
  7. Add the mushrooms, sauté, and season with salt and pepper.
  8. Add the stock and simmer until it has reduced by half.
  9. Add the butter and peas and correct the seasoning.
  10. Drop half the gnocchi into boiling salted water and cook until they float and become puffy. Drain the gnocchi and add to the sauce.
  11. Add 4 tbsp grated parmesan and the chives, and serve with more grated parmesan or pecorino if you have it.

Smoky Barbecued Salmon with Paprika and Cumin

.Reading time 1 minute.
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Lordy!

Serves: 4

This would be a really fun dish to share; whole piece of salmon flaked on a big board, some salads and potatoes at the side.

Yum.

Cooked this on a grill plate inside on account of the 9c outside weather, though on a BBQ in summer, it would be a real winner.

Easy, healthy, tasty and dramatic to look at.

Another salmon number that you’ll love.

From Tobie and Georgia Puttock’s The Chef gets Healhy.

Ingredients

2 tbsp hot smoked paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 salmon fillets skin on (160gm each) or 640gm piece, skin on
Rocket leaves to serve

Method

  1. Preheat the BBQ, grill plate or a chargrill pan to high.
  2. Put the paprika, cumin and olive oil in a small bowl and stir to combine. Rub the spice mix all over the salmon
  3. Cook the salmon on the grill for a few minutes each side until cooked though still pink and starting to flake.
  4. Remove from the pan, rest for a few minutes and serve with the rocket alongside.

Quinoa, Broccolini and Asparagus Salad

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4 as a side

An unusual salad to write up on the coldest day in Sydney this year, though the house is warm and for a healthy Monday evening, there isn’t much not to love.

Let’s start with healthy: 217 calories a serve.

Taste? Fresh, clean, green and wholesome.

Ease? Way up there.

The quinoa is a bit of a star adding weight and nourishment, though it all pulls together and makes you feel like you are eating your way through a green garden.

And with plenty left for tomorrow‘s lunch – with the smoky barbequed salmon we also cooked tonight, flaked on top – as long as the office is warm, this is an awesome, filling meal the next day.

From Tobie and Georgia Puttock’s book, The Chef gets Healthy.

Ingredients

2 heaped tbps low fat plain Greek-style yoghurt
Sea salt and cracked pepper
2 small handfuls of mint leaves
2 pinches ground cumin
¾ cup (150gm) quinoa
1 bunch broccolini, ends trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths
1 bunch asparagus, end trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths
1 bulb baby fennel
1 tbsp salted baby capers, rinsed and roughly chopped
1 small handful of dill, chopped
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Method

  1. Place the yoghurt in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Finely chop half the mint leaves and mix into the yoghurt. Sprinkle with a pinch of cumin, cover and place in the fridge until needed.
  2. Toast the quinoa in a heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat, stirring continuously for 2 minutes. Add 2 cups (500ml) water and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and hold at a simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside, covered, for 5 minutes to allow the quinoa to absorb any remaining liquid. Transfer the quinoa to a large bowl and place in the fridge covered for about 10 minutes to cool.
  3. Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and blanch the broccolini and asparagus for 1 minute; drain and refresh under cold water. Set aside.
  4. Remove the stalks from the fennel bulb. Reserve the fronds and discard the stalks. Cut the fennel in half lengthways, then slice into thin strips. Place in a bowl of ice water to keep fresh and crisp.
  5. Remove the cooled quinoa from the fridge. Add the broccolini, asparagus, fennel, capers, dill, lemon zest and juice, remaining mint leaves and a pinch of cumin, reserved fennel fronds and a good drizzle of olive oil. Mix carefully by hand and season.
  6. Serve with a dollop of the yoghurt mixture on top.

Rick Stein’s White Lamb Curry

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 6 – 8

Otherwise known as Safed Maas – ‘safed’ meaning white in most North Indian languages – this curry is literally the opposite of rogan josh.

Aromatic, mild and off-white. Fragrant and luxurious.

Historically, this recipe is a royal dish from the region of Rajasthan, a region famous for its upper-class cooking.

So background aside, why would you consider this.

It’s hard to know where to start!

It is a brand new curry! After a billion rogan joshes and so forth, this is like finding out you have a tail!

It tastes extraordinary. With some rice and chapitas, it is so moorish and – second time I have used this word – luxurious, you will pause to take it all in. Heaven.

And it is from Rick Stein, a man who gets it right almost every time.

If you like curry and you like Indian, I present to you your new tail.

Start wagging. It looks great!

Ingredients

For the spice blend

2 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp green cardamom pods, seeds only
1 black cardamom pod, seeds only
1 tsp cloves
4cm cinnamon stick
1 Indian bay leaf

For the lamb

100gm cashew nuts
1 tbsp boiling water
1gk boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 4cm cubes
4cm fresh ginger, finely grated
5 cloves garlic, finely crushed
100gm Greek-style yogurt
150gm ghee (or oil)
1 small onion, sliced
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cardamom (seeds from 30 green pods)
40ml double cream

To serve

Pilau rice
Chapatis

Method

  1. Fry the spices in a frying pan over a medium-heat for 1-2 minutes until lightly toasted and aromatic and then blend to a powder using a grinder or a mortar and pestle.
  2. For the lamb, tip the cashew nuts and water into a mini food processor and blend to a paste. Set aside. Put the lamb in a large bowl and mix well with the spice blend, ginger, garlic and yogurt. Set aside and marinate for 30 minutes.
  3. Heat the ghee in a large pan over a low-medium heat and fry the onion for 5 minutes until softened but not browned. Add the meat and its marinade and pour in enough water to just cover the meat. Add the salt, bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 1 hour or until the lamb is tender and the sauce is thickened.
  4. Stir in the cashew nut paste, ground cardamom and a splash of water if needed to give the sauce the consistency of double cream. Heat through and the stir in the cream and serve.
  5. Close your eyes.

Karen Martini’s Spiced Lamb Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Eggs and Coriander

.Reading time 2 minutes.
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Meatballs out of the oven and waiting for the passata and eggs.

Serves: 4

I am yet to do a Karen Martini recipe that hasn’t been a keeper and this is no exception.

What a Sunday night treat, served with this clever Adam Liaw salad.

The spicy lamb meatballs are divine, what with the richness of the egg and the sweetness of the tomato sauce. And it all presents beautifully.

Sadly, so well that you will struggle to make a lunch out of it the next day. This really is a dish that is hard to stop eating.

Both of the boys loved them with Oliver describing them as ‘better than better’. Little did he know he was eating chilli, sumac and coriander.

A winner on all fronts.

Ingredients

1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
½ bunch parsley, finely chopped
½ bunch coriander, finely chopped
2 tsp salt
½ onion, finely diced and cooked with a little oil until soft
500gm lamb mince
½ cup fresh breadcrumbs
7 eggs
½ bunch parsley, leaves picked
½ bunch coriander, leaves picked
2 tbsp sumac
8 tbsp tomato passata
1 lemon, juiced

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c.
  2. Place spices, chopped parsley and coriander, salt, onion, lamb, 1 egh and breadcrumbs in a large bowl and combine well with your hands.
  3. Roll lamb mixture into 8 oval football shapes, coat in parsley and coriander and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Sprinkle with sumac and bake for 15 minutes; remove from the oven.
  4. Spoon passata into an ovenproof dish, place meatballs on top, crack 6 eggs over the top and bake for 12 minutes or until the eggs are cooked to your liking. Squeeze over the lemon juice and serve.

Adam Liaw’s Walnut and Watercress Salad

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

This is a really wonderful salad. So good in fact, that Nat wants to bottle the dressing for friends.

The nuttiness of the walnut with the freshness of the watercress and mint is special.

Even the boys hoovered it up.

Sophisticated, clean, healthy and fresh.

A must do.

Ingredients

½ cup peeled walnuts*
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp honey
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 anchovy fillets (or ½ tsp salt)
1 bunch watercress, picked and washed
1 cup loosely packed mint leaves

Method

  1. Place half the walnuts in a small food processor with the vinegar, olive oil, honey, mustard and anchovies (or salt), and process to a smooth dressing.
  2. Toss the watercress, mint leaves and remaining walnuts in the dressing.

* Toast the walnuts – either in the oven or in a pan – until darkened and the skins are starting to flake. In a kitchen towel, rub the nuts together until the skins separate and then in a colander, shake to separate the skins from the nuts.

Pot-roast beef with salsa verde

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 6

This is a freight train of a dish and in a good way.

Bottle of red wine; a kilo of steak, salsa verde; plenty of cooking time.

The result is so inevitably luxurious and warm, though like a freight train, not particularly unapologetic. You get out what you put in and what you get out is a rich, silken, winter stew that would belt the shit out of anything that came close to it.

Next day at work, the concentration of flavour doubled and before I had it in the microwave, a friend commented; afterwards, it was almost awkward. People don’t eat rich stews and potatoes for lunch on a Monday and the fact they are is beyond words.

11/10.

And here is the best part.

I didn’t cook it.

Nat did. On a Monday. Before I got home from work.

As if salsa verde wasn’t enough sprinkled on top (cutting through the richness), I didn’t have to lift a finger until it was served.

Try this one cold night this winter and revel in it.

Excuse my language, though it is a finger to winter and a bloody effective one at that.

Brilliant! And thank you Nat.

Sunday on a Monday!

Ingredients

Stew

750ml bottle good quality red wine (Seriously!)
1 kg skirt steak, cut into 3cm pieces
2 tbsp plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 onions, sliced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
4 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf (or 2 dry)
750ml beef stock (starting to see my point?)

Salsa verde

2 cups flat-leaf parsley leaves
3 cups mint leaves
2 tbsp capers, rinsed
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
150ml extra virgin olive oil

Mashed, boiled (with butter and parsley), whatever potatoes to serve; just don’t go overboard or this could be the end
Steamed green beans

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 160c.
  2. Place wine in a large saucepan/casserole (with a lid) over a medium heat and simmer until reduced by half. Set aside.
  3. Toss the steak in the seasoned flour. Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the steak in batches until well browned. Set aside.
  4. Add onion to the pan and cook for 5 minutes until golden; add the garlic and the herbs.
  5. Return the meat to the pan with the reduced wine and stock. Stir and season. Cover and cook in the oven for 2 ½ hours. (You have my point now, right?)
  6. To make the salsa verde, place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Season.
  7. Remove meat from pan/casserole and set aside. Place the pan/casserole back on the stock and cook until the sauce is thickened.
  8. Return the meat and serve with the salsa verde and potato.
  9. Loosen tie, remove shoes, be thankful for winter.

Spiced Lamb Burgers with Tzatziki

.Reading time 2 minutes.
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Hello Tuesday! The week just got a whole lot better!

Serves: 4

This recipe by Tobie Puttock had us at ‘spice’ and ‘lamb’.

Spicy lamb is a last meal contender, right?

At 447 calories a serve, they’re not too bad though they make up strongly for this in taste: predictably, as you read through all the ingredients, they taste great.

A really special, warming midweek dish.

Served with tzatziki and a wonderful Pea, Snowpea, Almond and Feta salad and highly recommended.

Ingredients

2 tbsp extra virgin oil
¼ onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp ground allspice
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp dried chilli flakes (do 1tsp and don’t hold back!)
1 tbsp dried mint leaves
500gm minced lamb
Small handful, flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Small handful of dill, roughly chopped
1 egg, lightly whisked
100gm reduced fat feta cheese, crumbled
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Tzatziki to serve

Method

  1. Heat the olive oil in a small fry pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring often for 2 minutes, until slightly softened though not coloured.
  2. Stir in the allspice, coriander, cumin, chilli flakes and mint and cook for a further minute. Take off the heat and set aside to cool.
  3. Place the lamb in a large bowl. Add the onion mixture, parsley, dill, egg, feta and season with the salt and pepper.
  4. Use your hands to mix everything well; shape the mixture into four patties, place on a tray and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
  5. Preheat a grill plate on high. Add the patties and cook for 3 – 4 minutes on each side until almost cooked through.
  6. Serve with a dollop of tzatziki.

Pea, Snowpea, Almond and Feta Salad

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

What a great salad!

190 calories a serve, really colourful and bursting with flavour.

This is a real win.

From Toby and Georgia Puttock’s book The Chef gets Healthy, this is a great salad. I mean, who doesn’t love peas – and snowpeas – and with the toasted almonds and some feta?!

Try it and you’ll understand why!

(Slightly adapted to our steam/microwave lives.)

Ingredients

150gm snowpeas, ends trimmed
150gm frozen (baby) peas
½ red onion, thinly sliced
50gm reduced fat feta
30gm flaked almonds, toasted
Handful of basil leaves, roughly torn
1 ½ tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Handful of rocket or watercress

Method

  1. Blanch – steam, boil, microwave –the snowpeas and peas until bright green and tender crisp; drain and refresh with cold water. Drain again.
  2. Put the snowpeas, peas, onion, feta, almonds, basil, olive oil and vinegar in a large bowl and toss to combine, Season and carefully toss through the rocket or watercress.
  3. Enjoy.