Category: Side

Tartiflette (French Cheese and Potato Bake)

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4 – 8 as a side

There is a time and a place for dishes like this.

Not every night and perhaps not even every Saturday, but if you are going to cook something as utterly incredible as Orlando Murrin’s Roast Fillet of Veal in Parmesean Crust, well there sir, you have the time and place for a dish like this.

I mean, you can always go for a 15km walk in the morning right?

(If you don’t have pancetta, keep looking. You can substitute but seriously…)

Ingredients

1kg potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
50g unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp chopped thyme
200g Speck or Pancetta
1/2 cup white wine
200ml thickened cream
250g raclette or reblochon cheese grated (substitute, gruyere)

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 190c.
  2. Boil the potatoes for 3 or so minutes; they should be started to soften though not fully softened.
  3. Melt the butter over a medium-low heat in a large frying pan. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes or until soft, stirring occasionally.
  4. Add the garlic, thyme and Speck (or pancetta) and cook, stirring for 5 minutes.
  5. Add the white wine, cream, most of the cheese and the potato and stir to combine. Season.
  6. Transfer the mixture to a large baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
  7. Cover with a sheet of baking paper (to prevent sticking) and then foil.
  8. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the baking paper/foil and continue cooking for another 20 minutes or until bubbling and golden.

Dau Hu Rang Muoi (Salt and Pepper Tofu)

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves 2 as a starter

I pulled this recipe from Secrets of the Red Lantern by Pauline Nguyen (recipes also by Luke Nguyen and Mark Jensen).

Red Lantern is a Surry Hills Vietnamese restaurant, with almost a cult following; the food is modern and brilliantly executed, with great service and a dark, red atmosphere.

Indeed, my mother took me to a Fish Market Cooking School around 2003 held by Mark Jensen and we cooked a prawn dish that really marked a turning point in my passion for cooking. Subsequently, I’ve eaten at Red Lantern at least a dozen times since.

This dish is very satisfying, both from the perspective of cooking it, and eating it. Tofu is one of those ingredients you cook just not quite enough to be completely confident; and yet once you’ve finished deep frying it and the smell of the spring onions, chilli and garlic in the oil hits, you know you’re onto something fabulous.

This could be done as part of a Vietnamese feast or a starter as part of a dinner party, possibly served with other interesting starters. It really is a unique, sharp and tasty dish.

Ingredients

250g tofu pillows (Chinese-style pressed firm tofu)
Oil
2 spring onions (scallions), sliced
1 bird’s eye chilli, sliced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Salt and pepper seasoning mix (Combine 1 tbs salt, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp white pepper, 1 tsp ground ginger, ½ teaspoon five-spice)
Lemon

Method

  1. Cut the tofu into 4x2cm cubes and place on a cloth to dry; in a standard tofu pack, this makes 6.
  2. Put enough oil in a wok to deep-fry the tofu, and heat to 180c. This will cook a brown a bread cube in 15 seconds.
  3. Deep-fry the tofu for 5 minutes or until golden and very crispy. Remove from the wok and reserve the oil for later use.
  4. Add 2 teaspoons of the reserved oil to the wok and place over a high heat.
  5. Add the spring onions, chilli and garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds ensuring the garlic doesn’t burn. Add the tofu and salt a pepper seasoning and toss.
  6. Serve with salt, pepper and sprinkle of lemon.

Coriander pesto

.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Serves: Plenty as a dip

Not much to say here except that rather than using this for a pasta, as a dip with crackers or bread, it is so moorish, it will be the first thing to disappear. And I can vouch that it is particularly kid friendly.

Start here for your next party,.

Ingredients

2 c coriander leaves
½ c pine nuts, toasted
½ c grated Parmesan
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp lemon juice
¼ c extra virgin olive oil 

Method

  1. In a food processor, process together the coriander, pine nuts, Parmesan, garlic and lemon juice and with the machine running, add the olive oil.

Cauliflower rice

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

Going from fatso to less-so fatso was a journey that meant less drinking, less calories, more exercise and… crossing those food taboos I had always held true.

Like substituting.

Substituting strips of zucchini for pasta. Tofu for meat. And cauliflower for rice.

Because rice was one of those things that made me fat. The carbs, the inoffensive taste, the way it filled me up when covered in curries and sauce.

Rice though, is high in calories. And as I have done the simple arithmetic – less carbs in, more carbs out = weight loss = I’ve had to cross old taboos. Namely, rice cannot be substituted.

Well let me tell you, my fellow fatsos, it can. And with no downside.

A cup of rice is 216 calories. A cup of cauliflower rice with the same density, 28. Ha.

And cauliflower has a lower GI so you’ll feel fuller longer!

And in ‘ricing’ the cauliflower, it takes on a new, really pleasant texture. Dry yet moist, solid, almost like cous cous. Tastes good too, especially when you run through some coriander and toasted cumin seeds.

216 calories is a brisk half-hour walk. You’ve just burnt 28 reading this recipe introduction.

Take the plunge and see the light. This is how rice should be.

(Unless you’re in an Indian restaurant with a vindaloo in which case, it is safe to assume you have earned rice or need rice, or both…!)

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower
Bunch of coriander, chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted
Small handful of curry leaves, fried

Method

  1. Cut the florets from the cauliflower leaving the tough stalk aside.
  2. Pulse the florets in a food processor until of a consistent, cous cous like consistency.
  3. Put the pulsed cauliflower in a microwave-proof bowl, cover in cling-wrap, pierce the cling wrap and microwave for 7 minutes (yes, 7 minutes) on high. Do not add water.
  4. Heat a large pan over a medium-high heat and fry the cauliflower, tossing it through until lightly toasted.
  5. Stir through the coriander, curry leaves and cumin seeds.
  6. See the light!