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...

Curry Puffs

.Reading time 2 minutes.
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Holy crap these are good. The real deal. Add peas if you feel like it.

Serves: 4 – 6 as a side

If your brief is to shut down the local Malaysian Curry Puff business, proceed with this recipe.

Wow, it doesn’t get any more real than this.

They don’t get the heart tick of approval though they get every other tick out there; seriously, they’re perfect. Just like that Malaysian Curry Puff business you’re shutting down.

A few other recipes I read asked for the homemade creation of your own puff pastry, though that is totally non-necessary based on my experience.

I doubled the recipe though for 4 to 6 people, follow the recipe below. Plenty to share!

Ingredients

2 tsp peanut oil
2 tsp finely chopped coriander root
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
100gm beef mince
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp water
100gm mashed potato
2 sheets puff pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten
Vetegable oil
Sweet chilli sauce to serve

Method

  1. Stir fry the coriander root, spring onion, garlic and beef until the colour changes.
  2. Add the turmeric, cumin and coriander and stir-fry until fragrant.
  3. Add the fish sauce and water and simmer until the mixture thickens.
  4. Stir in the mashed potato and cool.
  5. Cut rounds – around 10cm in diameter – from the pastry sheet. Spoon the filling into the centre of each, brush around the edges of the pastry with the egg, fold to enclose and press together with a form to seal.
  6. Deep-fry the curry puff until crisp and lightly browned, drain on paper towels and serve with the sweet chilli sauce.

Spanish Potato Salad

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4 – 6 as a side

This is another Bobby Flay recipe and is a great and very colourful – thanks to the saffron, tomato and red onion – addition to my repertoire of potato salads.

I served it with Jamie Oliver’s spice crusted BBQ leg of lamb and it was fabulous.

Ingredients

¼ c red wine vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1 pinch saffron threads
1 c good cup quality egg mayonnaise
1 tbsp minced garlic
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1kg new potatoes
1 large tomato
½ c finely diced Spanish onion
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
¼ c coarsely chopped flatleaf parsley

Method

  1. Combine the vinegar, honey and saffron in a small pot. Bring to a boil over a high heat and immediate remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
  2. Combine the mayonnaise and garlic with the saffron mixture in a medium mixing bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper.
  3. Cook the potatoes in a large pot of boiling, salted water until tender. Drain and slice 1cm thick. Place in a large serving bowl and immediately fold in the mayonnaise mixture, tomatoes, onion, thyme and parsley. Season again and enjoy!

Spaghetti with crushed peas, mint and pancetta

.Reading time 2 minutes.
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Beautiful colours.

Serves: 4 – 6

I found this recipe in the 2015 Gourmet Traveller Annual Cookbook.

Having not had pasta for months, I had a real hankering; keen to cook something that wasn’t entirely outrageous and thus setting me back two weeks of walking and running, this recipe was it and what a great recipe it is.

It is one of those nice and simple, nobody is going be upset, Sunday lunch pastas. It’s clean, fresh and children friendly. It certainly looks the part with a big salad or two and some crusty bread.

Yum.

Ingredients

400gm dried spaghetti
50ml olive oil
80gm mild pancetta, diced
¼ onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
50ml dry white wine
150ml chicken stock
250gm frozen peas
½ c coarsely torn mint, plus extra to serve
Finely grated pecorino pepato to serve

Method

  1. Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water until al dente. Drain and return to the pan with a tablespoon or two of the pasta water.
  2. Meanwhile, heat oil in large frying pan over a medium-high heat, add pancetta and cook until it starts to crisp (3 – 4 minutes). Add onions and garlic and sauté until tender (3 – 4 minutes). Deglaze the pan with wine, add stock and bring to a simmer. Add peas, simmer until tender (2 – 3 minutes), remove from the heat, season to taste and coarsely crush the peas.
  3. Toss pea mixture through pasta, season again if necessary and serve hot with pecorino pepato and extra mint.

Whole Fish with Roast Capsicum and Chilli Butter

.Reading time 2 minutes.

 Serves: 4

I typed this recipe up a few years back though haven’t made it since.

Next weekend, I will right that wrong.

Using whole ocean trout as your fish – truly the most beautiful fish in the world – and cooked in foil on the BBQ, when fish meets chilli butter and with perhaps some greens and potatoes on the side, something special happens.

Sure, it isn’t quite restaurant fare though it’s certainly bistro fare and it is a great recipe to dip your toe into the ‘cooking whole fish on the BBQ’ trick.

Of course, you could cook the fish in the oven by laying them down on baking paper, cutting two or three slashes into the thick flesh and baking, though I think the BBQ adds to it.

Ingredients

4 whole ocean trout
2 tbs olive oil, plus extra to brush
1 roasted red capsicum (or a jar of chargrilled capsicum, drained)
100gm unsalted butter
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus 1tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1 small red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped

Method

  1. Heat the BBQ to medium-hot. Brush the fish with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. By all means, stuff lemon and coriander and garlic and butter and whatever else your grandpa included into the cavity of the fish. Wrap in foil and cook for 10 – 12 minutes, turning once.
  2. Meanwhile, very finely chop the capsicum then place in a small saucepan with the olive oil, butter, lemon zest and juice, coriander, chilli and garlic. Season. Stir over a low heat until butter is melted and well combined. Keep warm.
  3. Serve the fish with the capsicum and chilli butter drizzled on-top.

The Best Green Salad with White Wine Dressing

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4 – 6

Doesn’t any lunch – pasta, BBQ, seafood – just say its Saturday when there is a big green salad on the table?! It says pour a glass of wine, grab a piece of bread and relax.

This is my go-to green salad. It is a Valli Little recipe and you can of course adjust the dressing with say Dijon mustard or maybe some diced shallots.

Ingredients

1 small frisee lettuce (curly endive)
2 baby cos lettuce
2 cups wild rocket leaves
1 handful chervil sprigs (Harris Farm your best bet)
2 handfuls of baby green beans, blanched for 1 – 2 minutes in boiling water
Bunch of chives
1/3 c white wine
¼ c lemon juice
1 tsp honey
¾ c extra virgin olive oil

Method

  1. Remove the outer leaves from the frisee and cos. Wash the inner leaves with the rocket and dry in a salad spinner or with paper towel.
  2. Pick the chervil leaves and place in a serving bowl with the lettuce and the beans. Hold the chives over the bowl and using kitchen scissors, finely snip half the chives into the bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk the wine, lemon juice and honey and season with salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in the oil until you have an emulsified dressing. Toss the salad and dressing together, then garnish with the remaining (long) chives and serve.

Rick Stein’s Roast Pork

.Reading time 3 minutes.

 

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Thank you Aaron. I still have it and I still cook from it. oooxxx

Serves: 8 piglets

As Rick Stein puts it, ‘to write a recipe for something as everyday as roasting a joint of pork might seem the ultimate in teaching your grandmother to suck eggs but, while on the subject of eggs, I never thought it was arrogant of Delia Smith to go back over how to cook them properly.’

I cook a great pork roast and am often asked how I get the crackling – the ultimate reason you cook a pork roast – so good. Good crackling is crisp, aromatic crackling of a delicacy and crisp airiness that words can’t describe.

Which means the enemy of this is moisture.

So – and I refer to this advice from Rick Stein in his book Food Heroes: another helping, a gift from my fine flatmate of many years back, Aaron – the steps which I have adapted are:

  • Try and find a joint of pork with as thick a layer of fat between the skin and the flesh as possible. The fat slows the moisture from the flesh getting to the crackling.
  • Try and avoid pork that has been shrink wrapped.
  • Pat dry the skins with paper towel and then let sit on a wire rack for at least 6 hours; Rick says 24 and no less. Pat dry again.
  • Score the skin though don’t go too deep and cut the flesh.
  • Pat dry one more time.

Ingredients

1.75kg bones and rolled spare rib of pork (shoulder, not the belly)
Sea salt and pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 250c or higher.
  2. Combine seasoning and a tablespoon of olive oil and rub all over the skin and flesh.
  3. Put in the hot oven and roast for 20 minutes.
  4. Lower the oven to 180c and continue to roast for 30 minutes per 450gm; a 1.75kg roast will take a further two hours.
  5. Make your gravy, potatoes, whatever.
  6. Remove the pork from the oven. A meat thermometer should read 75c in the centre of the pork. Let sit for 10 minutes and this should rise to 80c.
  7. To carve, cut and remove the string, slide a knife under the crackling, lift it off and break into pieces. Resist eating.
  8. Slice the pork removing the layer of fat and sit back and take those compliments. Hand out the crackling like a drug dealer.

Bobby Flay’s Grilled Eggplant Dip

.Reading time 4 minutes.
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Handsome and a good cook. Both things I aspire to!

Serves: 8 as part of a share platter

Bobby Flay isn’t a household name in Australia though the reverse is true in America where he is a superstar of cooking.

I first heard about him on Iron Chef America and despite his good looks and cool swagger, this is not a man you want to challenge in the kitchen. From memory, he never lost a challenge.

Anyway, this is his eggplant dip and whilst there is a little effort to it, it has a subtle, sophisticated and really fine flavour to it. I grilled some Turkish bread brushed will olive oil and served that with the dip and that Oliver had five in quick succession tells you volumes.

Impress your mates and serve this up fresh next time they’re around. Better still if you have good looks and cool swagger.

P.S. I didn’t oil the vegetables to cut down on calories and I saw no downside. Except less calories! Oh, and really do try to serve this fresh or if refrigerated, allow time to come back to room temperature and give a good stir to combine.

Ingredients

1 red pepper (capsicum)
¼ c canola oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large or 2 medium eggplant, ends trimmed and sliced lengthwise, 2cm thick
2 cloves garlic
¼ c tahini
¼ c Greek (fat-free) yoghurt
¼ c extra virgin olive oil
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp chopped, fresh oregano
1 tsp hot smoked paprika
¼ c chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Pita breads or Turkish breads, brushed with olive oil, heated on the grill to serve

Method

  1. Heat a grill to medium. Brush the red pepper with some of the canola oil and season with salt and pepper. Brush the eggplant slices on both sides with more of the canola oil and season with salt and pepper.
  2. Grill the eggplant until charred on the first side; around 3 minutes. Turn and continue grilling until tender; around 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a chopping board.
  3. Grill the red pepper, turning occasionally until charred all over and tender; around 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, cover tightly with cling wrap and let steam while you make the eggplant puree.
  4. Smash the garlic cloves, sprinkle them with salt and mash and smear them to a paste using the side of a knife.
  5. Remove the skin from the eggplant and transfer the flesh to a food processor. Add garlic paste, tahini, yoghurt, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the lemon zest, oregano and smoked paprika. Process until smooth and thick. Add salt to taste and transfer to a serving bowl and let sit for at least 15 minutes to allow the flavours to meld.
  6. Peel, seed and dice the red pepper.
  7. Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil over the dip (I gave this a miss), top with the diced peppers and chopped parsley and serve with the warm pita, lavash or grilled Turkish bread.

Maurice Brun’s Tapenade

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 8 snacking adults

I found this recipe in Patricia Well’s wonderful ‘Bistro Cooking’; French recipes from small family restaurants across France.

I am going to work my way through some of the fabulous sounding seafood recipes in the next few weeks: ‘L’Ami Louis’s scallops with Garlic, Tomatoes, Basil and Thyme’, ‘Chez Geraud’s Giant Shrimp Grilled with Brittany Sea Salt’, ‘Mussels with Tomatoes, Garlic, Olive Oil and Wine’, ‘Roasted Salmon with Olive Oil’ and ‘Arrantzaleak’s Grilled Tuna with Garlic and Sauce Piperade’, a sauce pf tomatoes, onions and chilis. 

My heart is at 130BPM just think about it!

Anyway, this is a fabulous tapenade I made as part of a bigger plate of dips, spreads and breads.

The rum (versus the traditional cognac) adds a faint, sweet flavour and on some oiled and toasted Turkish bread?

There’s your boy.

Ingredients

2 tbsp drained capers
4 anchovy fillets
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 tbsp rum
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 c (250gm) black olives, pitted

Method

  1. Combine the capers, anchovies, thyme, rum and oil in a food processor and process until just blended. Add the olives and pulse on/off about 10 times until the mixture is fairl coarse though well combined.
  2. Transfer to a bowl and serve.

Turkey chilli

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 6

For the past few months, I’ve cooked this at least once a month with plenty left for freezing until the next batch of cooking.

It is so good.

To the extent that I feel excited all day about getting home, heating it up, slicing in some avocado and mixing through some Greek yogurt. Some coriander and maybe even a chopped tomato.

It is healthy – 270 calories a cup – and it is hot.

And it’s mince! The final word in why you really should be whipping up a batch at least every month and drip-feeding the excitement when you need it most.

Lordy.

Ingredients

1kg turkey mince
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 can, crush tomatoes (no salt added as if you didn’t know!)
1 can, baby tomatoes (yes, you can get them at Coles if you look)
3 tbsp tomato paste
½ tsp hot/chilli sauce
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 red capsicum (pepper), chopped
1 green capsicum, chopped
2 jalapenos chopped (you can get these in a jar, I substitute a big red bullhorn chilli)
½ tsp sea salt
Pinch of pepper
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp chilli powder (3 makes it explosive, though sure, why not if you are so inclined)
2sp dry oregano
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Method

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy saucepan/pot and sauté the onions and garlic until fragrant – 3 or 4 minutes. Add the turkey and cook until browned and crumbled and the excess liquid has cooked off.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients – boom – and cook for an hour or more until you can’t hold out anymore!

Keftethes (Greek parsley meatballs)

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4 – 6

I just love these meatballs. And who doesn’t love mince.

The red wine vinegar and oregano adds an really interesting element and contrasts really nicely with the golden outsides and soft, medium-rare inside of the meatballs.

Yum.

Serve with a green salad and some pan-fried brussel sprouts and there is Wednesday night in the bag!

Ingredients

1kg ground beef
1/3 c dry breadcrumbs
½ c milk
1 onion, finely chopped
1 c (or more) chopped parsley
3 tbsp olive oil
2 egg yolks (or 1 egg)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsps salt
pepper to taste
2 tbsp butter
6 tbsp (or more) red wine vinegar
1 tbsp (or more) dried crumbled oregano

Method

  1. Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk until soft.
  2. Saute the onion and parsley in 2 tablespoons olive oil until limp.
  3. Mix together thoroughly with the meat, egg yolks, breadcrumbs, garlic, salt and pepper.  Shape into 1-inch balls and chill.
  4. Sauté the meatballs in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and the butter, browning on all sides, and then remove any excess fat from the pan.
  5. Pour the vinegar into the pan, and sprinkle with the oregano.  Heat for a few minutes, scraping up the browned drippings. Repeat with more vinegar and oregano for a stronger taste.