Looking back on it, every blog here that is mince based, starts with something like: mince is the best, mince is our favourite, mince is our last meal, etc.
Because its true.
Any which way, we love it and Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai minces are up there as our favourite weeknight meals.
You’ve been at work, it’s raining, it’s on Monday and yet… you’re having spicy mince for dinner!
This Thai Basil Mince is super easy and you can’t overdo it on the basil front.
It is also healthy, even if you do have it with a cup of boiled Jasmine rice which… because it is Monday… you should.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 tbsp sunflower oil
500gm ground beef mince
2 shallots, diced
1 red capsicum, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 birds eye chillies, thinly sliced
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp palm sugar (or brown sugar)
1 lime, juice and zest
1 cup basil (Thai basil if you can) 2 spring onions, thinly sliced, to garnish
Chopped peanuts and crispy fried shallots to garnish
Jasmine rice to serve
Method
Heat the oil over a medium-high heat in a heavy saucepan or wok and cook the beef mince and shallots until the meat is cooked and browning; about 10 minutes.
Add the capsicum, garlic and chillies and cook until fragrant; another 2 – 3 minutes
Add the fish sauce, sugar, lime and basil and cook until the basil starts to wilt; about a minute. Taste test to make sure the balance of salty, sweet and sour is right.
Garnish with the sliced spring onions, chopped peanuts and fried shallots. Serve with rice.
One of our favourite pastimes comes in three parts:
Long, lunch with a few bottles of wine
A few more drinks at home, music, laughter, talking shit
Making the sort of dinner you want after 1. and 2.
Point 3. of course requires planning because you can’t just decide on a whim to cook something wonderful and outrageous on the couch at home. You not only need the ingredients to be in the fridge, you likely need to have made a start on it… because nobody feels like cooking a fresh meal at 7pm on a Saturday night after a few wines.
We spent a few nights up in Newcastle last year leading up to NYE.
We love a place up there – Parry Street Garage – which serves great pizza and pasta, great wines and beers and more great wine. And it was within walking distance of our AirBNB.
Fast-forward a few hours, the music is on and we commence Matt Preston’s Cheat’s Lamb Pide.
Fast forward another hour or so and we have the best, Saturday-night – still drinking wine – dinner, in Merewether.
Do this the next time you have your own long lunch and finish (or start) the night right!
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
600gm lamb mince
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp ground cinnamon
4 ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Seeds of 1 pomegranate
1/4 cup un-roasted pistachio kernels, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup mint leaves, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp lemon juice
4 oval-shaped rolls or small baguettes
1/3 cup Greek-style yoghurt (full fat!)
Method
Preheat the oven to 160c.
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat and add the lamb mince; cook, breaking up the mince for 10 minutes until well browned and crisping.
Add the garlic, cumin, paprika and cinnamon and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Stir in the tomato and cook for 4 minutes until the tomato starts to break down. Season.
Time for a red wine: pour one glass and enjoy. Turn the music up.
Combine the pomegranate seeds, chopped pistachios, parsley, mint, lemon juice and remaining oil in a bowl.
Cut a long slit along the top of each bread roll, ensuring that you do not cut all the way through. Open the roll slightly and scoop out a little of the bread. Spoon in the lamb mixture into the rolls to fill. Place on a baking tray and bake for 5 – 10 minutes until warmed through and the rolls are crisp and crunchy on the outside.
Top the rolls with yoghurt and sprinkle with the pomegranate mixture.
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
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.
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.
Roll the meatballs about the size of a walnut and flatten slightly to make it easier to cook on both sides.
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.
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.
Serve with a good sprinkling of Parmesan and some fresh basil leaves.
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
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.
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.
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.
Heat a large fry-pan gently and add the remaining oil.
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.
Place straight into the hot pan, seams side down and cook until golden on both sides. Serve hot with the chutney.
For the broth: bring the stock to the boil and add the fish sauce, star anise and ginger and gently simmer for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the meatball ingredients; season and shape into walnut-sized balls.
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.
As a child of an American mother, Sloppy Joes were something I grew up with.
Essentially mince on toast, spiced with a packet of mix usually from McCormicks, an American food company.
I’ve never had it any other way and every trip back to the States has included a hunt for a dozen packs to bring back home to Australia.
Sloppy Joes are a real American comfort food and served on a toasted bread roll, you really can’t ask for anything more comfortable.
I’d considered doing my own Sloppy Joes though like messing with a Big Mac, I feared messing with what I knew and loved best.
Until tonight….
This recipe is Sloppy Joes right down the line.
The ‘Italian’ twist ironically steers it closer to the packet mix version I have always had. Add a toasted bread roll and you’re home.
I guess it is just slightly spiced mince on toast and I know that in itself isn’t amazing.
I hope however that my boys come to love Sloppy Joes as much as I do and that it becomes part of their childhood like it was mine.
Ingredients
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 onion, finely chopped 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped, plus 1 extra halved 500gm beef mince 350ml passata 1 cup beef stock 2 tbsp coarsely chopped oregano 2 tsp brown sugar 1 tsp dried chilli flakes 1 tsp fennel seeds 1 tbsp red wine vinegar 4 large bread rolls, halved 2 buffalo mozzarella balls, thinly sliced
Method
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a low heat and saute the onion and garlic until golden. Add the beef, breaking up and cook until browned and any liquid evaporated.
Add the passata, stock, oregano, sugar, chilli flakes and fennel seeds, season to taste and simmer, stirring occasionally until thickened: an hour or so. Stir in the vinegar and season again to taste.
Meanwhile, preheat a grill to high and toast the rolls cut side up. Rub the toasted side with the garlic halves, top with the mozzarella cheese and grill until melted.
Spoon the meat mixture over the toasted rolls and enjoy.
Mince, Turkish food and a thin pizza base. What could go wrong?Serves: 4
Every so often, you come across a dish that hits it out of the park.
A dish that delivers far more than the brief.
A dish that makes you think wow.
No surprises, this is one of those dishes.
It is enormous. It is spectacular. And it gets better with practise, something you’ll love doing – over a few Saturday evening wines – knowing that each crust will get crisper, the lamb spicier, the bottle of red emptier.
The dough is easy so please don’t get put off by that: simply knead by hand and set aside and you’re home on that front. Double the lamb like we did and make it a meal.
The rather simple recipe is from the Turkish cookbook Anatolia.
The guys behind the book – and the dish – are from Efendy, an excellent Turkish restaurant in Balmain and one I highly recommend.
In the meantime, have a few wines next Saturday afternoon, cut-sort your plans for sushi or a salad and do it right.
This is 10/10 territory.
Lordy. (We served the salad sprinkled on each cooked pide and would suggest you do too! Also, we have slightly adjusted the recipe, though only slightly.)
Ingredients
1 ⅓ cups flour ½ cup wholemeal flour to dust Topping 2 tomatoes 1 red capsicum 75gm capsicum paste (salca)* 5 garlic cloves, chopped ½ bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves chopped 2 tsp chilli flakes 200gm lamb mince (we used 500gm though as a starter, do 200gm) Salt and freshly cracked pepper
*You might be able to find this at a supermarket, definitely at a deli but if not use roasted peppers in a jar Red onion and Sumac Salad ½ red onion, finely chopped 1 tbsp sumac Juice of ½ lemon 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Method
Preheat the oven to 300c or as hot as she goes.
Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the salt. Make a well in the center and slowly add ½ cup lukewarm water. Using your hands, mix to a firm dough adding a little extra water if necessary. Knead the dough for 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
Sprinkle some flour on a board, turn out the dough and divide into 4-even sized balls. Cover with a damp cloth to rest for 30-minutes.
Meanwhile, score a shallow cross in the base of the tomatoes and cover in a bowl with boiling water. Leave until the skin starts the peel and remove and refresh. Slice, deseed and chop.
Deseed the capsicum and chop.
Place the tomato and capsicum in a food processor with the capsicum paste, garlic, parsley, chili flakes, 1 tsp cracked black pepper, 1 tsp salt and pulse to a coarse paste. Add to the lamb mince in a bowl and stir well to combine.
In a fine sieve or similar, push out all the liquid in the lamb mixture. You want to remove as much liquid as possible.
Dust 4 sheets of baking paper with wholemeal flour. Place a ball of dough on the floured work surface and roll out until 25cm round and thin. Place on a floured baking paper. Thinly spread the lamb mixture over the base, pressing in with your hands.
Place the baking paper/round on a baking tray and cook for 10 – 12 minutes until the edges are crisp.
Meanwhile, make the salad by combining the ingredients.
This David Herbert number is as simple as it is wonderful.
And it is pretty simple.
We also sauteed some bok choy with chilli sauce, black bean, sesame oil and soy and all together, it was a hit.
Even the boys loved it.
It is a departure from our Sunday tradition of cooking all afternoon, though it’s a departure I am happy to live with after an especially busy weekend.
Ingredients
1kg pork mince ¾ cup fresh breadcrumbs ½ tsp ground ginger 2 eggs 2 cloves garlic, crushed 3 spring onions, thinly sliced Toasted sesame seeds, to garnish Steamed jasmine rice to serve For the sauce ⅔ cup hoisin sauce ¼ cup rice vinegar 2 cloves garlic, crushed 2 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tsp sesame oil ½ tsp ground ginger Method
Heat the oven to 180c.
Combine the meatball ingredients in a large bowl. Shape into balls, place on a tray and roast for 20 minutes, turning once.
Meanwhile, whisk sauce ingredients together.
Serve the meatballs on rice, pour over the sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
4 tbsp light soy sauce 2 tbsp rice wine (or Japanese sake which we used) 2 tsp sugar ¼ tsp Chinese five spice powder ¼ tsp salt 1 tbsp vegetable oil 1 tsp minced fresh ginger 2 tsp minced fresh garlic 500gm ground chicken breast (chicken mince) 50gm shiitake mushrooms 1 cup frozen baby peas 4 eggs 2 cups of steamed rice Baby bok choy, sauteed quickly in a hot pan with a splash of vegetable oil, sesame oil, light soy sauce, black bean sauce and chilli sauce Method
In a small bowl, mix together the light soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, five spice powder and salt.
Place the shiitake mushrooms in a bowl and pour over boiling water. Leave for 5 minutes, drain well and chop.
Heat a wok over a medium heat and add the oil; when warm, add the ginger and garlic and stir, cooking for a minute until fragrant. Add the chicken mince, breaking up and stir until the chicken is slightly browned.
Add the shiitake mushrooms, the light soy sauce mixture and 1 cup of hot water. Partially cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the sauce is mostly absorbed. Add the peas, stir for a minute and take off the heat, stirring until the peas are warmed through.
Meanwhile, cook the rice and prepare the bok choy.
When the chicken is close to done, add some oil to a pan, heat to medium and cook the eggs, crisping the edges though keeping the yolk runny.
Cook the bok choy.
Serve the chicken mince on the rice with the egg on top and the bok choy at the side.
Ken Hom is a pretty impressive guy and everything of his I have ever cooked has been just as impressive.
This is a man that doesn’t put his name to anything that isn’t but awesome.
We don’t hear a lot about Ken Hom in Australia and he is fairly retired now I gather; though growing up with an American mother, I heard plenty about him and know his style well.
This particular recipe is as wonderful as it is quick to prepare.
It is that wonderful, spicy dish you get in a Taiwanese restaurant that you wish you had the time and knowledge to recreate. Part of this is achieved by keep the dice of your spring onions as small as you can; delicate ingredients, wonderful taste.
The only caveat is around the use of the chilli oil, which – if you have used chilli oil before – you will know can be quite a thumper of an ingredient. I haven’ adjusted the original recipe though we halved the chilli oil and were happy for doing so.
Blow your socks off however you will. Oh, there is a second caveat.
We didn’t deep-fry the pork mince and frankly, I don’t think you should either. I don’t doubt Mr Hom’s recipe, though if you aren’t a kitchen used to splashing around liters of oil and deep frying meat, I wouldn’t start here. Pan fry your mince in a bit of oil like we did and enjoy. And so I have adjusted the recipe to reflect this.
This is a cracker of a mid-week dinner and you should get onto cooking it as soon as you can.
Ingredients
250gm pork mince 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tsp salt 2 tbsp vegetable oil 3 tbsp finely chopped garlic 2 tbsp finely chopped ginger 5 tbsp finely chopped spring onions 2 tbsp sesame paste or peanut butter 2 tbsp (light) soy sauce 2 tbsp chilli oil (we used 1) 1 tsp salt 250ml chicken stock 350gm fresh Chinese thin egg noodles or dry Chinese thin egg noodles 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns, roasted and ground 1 red hot chili, seeds removed and finely chopped for garnish Method
Combine the pork, soy sauce and salt and mix well. Heat a wok until it is hot, add 1 tbsp of oil and fry the pork mixture until browned, working to break it up. Set aside.
Add the remaining 1 tbsp of oil to the wok, reheat and add the garlic, ginger and spring onions and stir fry for 30-seconds. Add the sesame paste (or peanut butter), soy sauce, chilli oil, salt and chicken stock and simmer for 4 minutes,
Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain and divide into individual bowls. Ladle on the sauce, garnish with fried pork, Sichuan peppercorns and chopped chilli.
Robby Dog Cooks 