Rita Ashes was famous for her roasts, pineapple upside down cakes and her sausage rolls.
Rita with Nat in yellow.
These are old school and crowd pleasers. The trick is cutting them small like Grandma used to do so they are bite sized, easy to eat with your hand, treats. Maintaining a little dignity (as Grandma would have wanted) as you shove them in your mouth.
“Very good Dear” as Grandma would say.
Ingredients
Puff Pastry 1 egg, lightly beaten 750g sausage mince (cut the casing off of thin supermarket sausages) 1 onion, blended or thinly diced 1 cup breadcrumbs 1 tsp dried mixed herbs 1 egg, beaten Tomato sauce, plus more to to serve
Method
Once you have cut the casings off the sausages mix the mince, onion, breadcrumbs, 1 egg and mixed herbs in a bowl.
Cut a piece of puff in half and pipe a line of tomato sauce along the edge (one sheet will make two sausage roll logs)
Roll about 2 heaped tbsps of mince mixture along the tomato sauce line.
Roll making sure its secure. Cut into about 7 slices. Repeat with remaining mixture.
Brush each with the lightly beaten egg and bake for about 25mins on 180C until golden brown.
What an absolutely lovely, fresh way to kick off a lazy Sunday lunch.
Nat and I never went to the restaurant Pinbone, though we did have dinner at their successor – I Maccheroni – a few weeks back and it was a really lovely Italian meal.
For this dish, I started with the foccacia and as the non-bread maker in the family, this turned out to be a real trick. Though not in the tricky vein.
Follow the instructions, lose faith at some point, though watch the dough transform and transform and wow. An absolutely wonderful base for the dish, with just enough oil to be interesting, a cracking crust and a soft interior. Yum.
It’s then the simplicity of the ricotta and the peas and beans. You don’t really need four varieties here and I swapped out Italian beans for the broadbeans. Though add the olive oil, lemon juice and then the mint and a big paste of ricotta, and with a glass of Champagne… this is why life is so good.
And can be so simple.
If I showed up to lunch and was handed one of these with a glass of wine, wow. What a way to set the bar and clear intentions of the afternoon ahead.
Ingredients
50gm sugarsnap peas, coarsely chopped 50gm frozen baby peas 50gm podded broad beans (about 150gm unpodded) – I substituted Italian beans and coarsely chopped 50gm podded edamame* Juice of 1/2 lemon 1 tbsp olive oil 150gm ricotta 1/4 cup mint, coarsely torn
Focaccia
460gm baker’s flour 1 tsp brown sugar 7gm (1 sachet) dried yeast 1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
Method
For the focaccia, combine 450gm flour and 1 1/2 tsp salt in an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Lightly whisk remaining flour, sugar and dried yeast in a separate bowl with 300ml lukewarm water, then leave until bubbles appear (5 – 7 minutes). Add oil to the yeast mixture, then, with the mixer on low speed, add yeast mixture to the flour and knwad until smooth and elastic (8 – 9 minutes). Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place until nearly doubled in size (20 – 30 minutes). Preheat the over to 230x. Gently knock back the dough, cover and prove until nearly doubled in size again (10 – 15 minutes). Transfer to a well-oiled 12cm x 23cm load pan**. Cover and leave to prove until about 1cm below top of tin (15 minutes), then bake until golden brown and the focaccia sounds hollow when tapped on the base (25 – 30 minutes). Cool on a rack (about 1 hour), then cut into 12 slices.
Brinf a saucepan of salted water to the boil and blanch peas and bans for 20 – 30 seconds until bright green and still crunchy. Drain, then peel broadbeans and mix with lemon juice, oil and remaining peas and beans in a bowl and season to taste.
Toast/grill the focaccia slices until well toasted.
Spread the ricotta on focaccia, spoon pea and bean mixture on top, scatter with mint, extra virgin olive oil and serve.
* Frozen section of the supermarket.
** We’ve been baking our focaccias in a large, heavy skillet to great effect. Just keep and eye on it. These skillets get so hot, it brings forward the cooking time. This focaccia was done in 18 minutes in the skillet.
Monday of a long weekend in Sydney: a Saturday and Sunday filled with chores, a concert for Nat and a birthday party for Max and his class.
So Monday is ours.
Which obviously – obviously – means a long lunch. French. Obviously.
We started with these toasts and my word, they are elegant.
The addition of the white rum is genius. The anise flavour adds such a quality.
And on a fresh, toasted baguette.
If these were trotting around a wedding as canapes, you’d know you were in for a good night.
Next dinner party, these are definitely coming out. Awesome.
Ingredients
150gm fresh goats’ cheese 1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp pastis, arak, raki or ouzo – or white rum 1 small garlic cloves, crushed Freshly ground black pepper, to taste 1 tbsp snipped fresh chives 5 pitted black olives, chopped, to garnish Sliced, toasted baguettes or other toasts
Method
Using a fork, mash the goats’ cheese with the oil, pastis and garlic and season with a little black pepper.
Spread on toasts and garnish with a spinkling of herbs and olives.
Nat is on an absolute bread and pasta tear and so when we nominated this as our starter for a Saturday night Italian meal, she immediately set about on an incredible artisan loaf.
Though hats off to this recipe, the bread was just the start of something really memorable.
This is an absolutely 1-hat starter. Incredible.
The anchovy butter is magic. And then add that soft-poached egg.
I should have sprinkled some chopped parsley or chives, though plenty of time for that. We now have the butter frozen in the freezer for next time.
As long as you have a crusty bread, this is a phenomenal dish. Breakfast, evening starter, it is special either way
Ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature Tin of anchovies 3 garlic cloves, crushed 2 – 3 pinches of paprika Juice of half a small lemon Pepper Soft poached eggs to serve Toasted, crusty slices of artisan bread to serve Finely sliced chives or parsley to serve
Method
Drain the anchovies, rinse and pound in a mortar and pestle.
Combine the anchovies with the remaining ingredients.
Toast your bread, butter liberally and place a poached egg on top. Sprinkle over chives or parsley and serve warm.
This is a bit of an adventurous dish, though ironically it’s the simplicity of the whole thing that is the point.
This dish from Martin Teplitzky – son of the great Gretta Anna – is all class.
Nat did this as a first course for a long-lunch we had over the past Christmas and my goodness, what a treat:
Doh. I forgot the Parmesan and chives before I took this photo.
The double whammy here is that you both need to make pasta dough and then expertly transfer egg yolks into each ravioli. I think we lost only two yolks.
Though its a fun dish to make – I helped with the pasta part – and it looks wonderful. (Yolks at room temperature are much easier to handle: pro tip.)
And as I said, it’s just the wonderful simplicity of it all.
Thankfully I nailed the other part of my limited brief which was to have a solid white wine chilled and ready.
150gm butter Grated zest and juice of 2 lemons 1 bunch asparagus, spears trimmed and cut into thirds Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Egg Yolk Ravioli (Makes about 18)
300gm type ‘00’ flour Pinch of salt 3 eggs, at room temperature Semolina flour, for dusting
Method
To make the ravioli, sift the flour into a bowl and add the salt. Make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Using a fork, gently beat the eggs and gradually allow the flour to mix with them. Continue until the sauce is too think to work with the fork. Tip out onto a smooth surface and work the dough until all the flour is absorbed, then continue to knead the dough for 5 – 10 minutes until it becomes smooth. (You may need to dust the work surface with a little semolina flour if you find the dough sticking a bit.) Wrap the dough in plastic film and place in the refrigerator to rest for 10 minutes.
Dust the work surface with semolina flour, then cut off about a quarter of the pasta dough, being sure to wrap the remaining dough in a tea towel to prevent it from drying out. Flatten the first piece of dough and pass it through the widest setting on a pasta machine. Drop the setting down a notch and roll out, and again drop the setting a notch and repeat. At this point, take your dough and fold it over twice. Pass it through the pasta machine. Repeat this process 5 times on this setting, folding air into the pasta. Once you have done this, drop the setting down another notch and roll through once, then drop the setting down once more and roll your pasta dough through. You should now have a lovely thin sheet of pasta ready for cutting or filling Repeat with remaining dough it give 4 sheets of pasta.
Using a cutter, cut the pasta dough into 18 discs about 8cm in diameter for the base of the ravioli, and 18 discs about 9cm in diameter for the top. Carefully place an egg yolk in the middle of an 8cm disc and wet the edges with a little water on the end of your fingertips. Place a 9cm disc on top and press the edges together, being careful not to puncture the pasta with your fingernails, and making sure you remove any air pockets from inside the ravioli. Repeat with the remaining pasta discs and egg yolks.
The ravioli can then be dusted with semolina flour and placed in the fridge or thrown straight into a saucepan of salted, boiling water. Remove the ravioli when they float to the surface, after about 2 – 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium-heat and sauté the prosciutto until crisp and golden, then drain on paper towel.
To make the asparagus and lemon butter, simply melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat, add the lemon zest and juice and gently sauté the asparagus for 2 – 3 minutes until they turn bright green and have softened a little. Season with salt and pepper.
Drain the ravioli, divide evenly between the plates. Drizzle the asparagus and lemon butter over top and serve with prosciutto and Parmesan, then scatter over finely chopped chives.
My mother whipped these up as part of a long, grazing lunch of cured meats and focaccia.
In the same way we should all be making our own dips for special meals, the same is true of nuts.
So here you go.
Ingredients
Cooking spray 1 egg white 3 tbsp sugar 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp dried red-pepper flakes 2 cups mixed raw nuts of your choice
Method
Heat the oven to 150c. Line a lipped baking sheet with foil and coat the foil lightly with cooking spray.
Whisk the egg white until very foamy. Add the sugar, salt, cumin and red-pepper flakes and whisk well. Stir in the nuts and coat completely.
Spread the nuts in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake until they’re deep golden brown about 25 – 30 minutes, stirring often.
Remove the sheet from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool. Break up any nutty clumps. (The nuts can be made a week in advance, stored in an airtight container.)
This recipe is in the Gourmet Traveller 2021 Annual, an always reliable and always excellent publication.
So much so, we have had whole long-weekends revolve around their annual collections of the best and most popular receipts from their magazine across the year.
This dish is seriously delicious.
It’s also simple.
And it is unquestionably 1-hat territory, if not nudging some of the 2-hat dining rooms winning their hats around simplicity and brilliant execution.
What a way to start a meal.
Ingredients
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 1 Savoy cabbage (600gm) cut into wedges 1 c each dry white wine and vegetable stock 80gm butter, chopped 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 4 banana prawns, peeled and finely chopped 1 tsp caraway seeds 240gm canned chestnuts, sliced 1/2 c thickened cream, warmed 1 tbsp finely chopped chives, to serve
Method
Preheat the oven to 220c. Heat half the oil in a large, non-stick frying pan over high-heat. Cook cabbage cut-side down until charred, and flip and do the same with the other cut-side. Transfer to a large roasting pan.
Pour wine and stock over the cabbage and dot with half the butter. Roast until tender, turning halfway: about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large, non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Add garlic and cook until just golden and fragrant. Add remaining butter and cook until starting to foam. Add prawn meat, caraway seeds and chestnuts, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until prawns are just cooked through. Add the cream and cook until combined.
Serve cabbage wedges with prawn and chestnut mix, topped with chives.
XOPP is a wonderful Sydney restaurant, a spin off of the sensational and institutional Golden Century.
The signature dish between the two restaurants is surely known by half the city: the Wok Fried Pippies with XO Sauce and Crispy Vermicelli.
We cooked this particular dish over Sydney’s last lockdown and it is just awesome. One of most identifiable dishes in Sydney.
Anyway, when we ate at XOPP, we kicked it off with their Prawn Mini Mantou with XO Mayonnaise and XO Sauce.
A predictably decadent plate of the most wonderful bites: a warm, soft bun with a golden, deep-fried, crispy outside, filled with chopped prawns mixed with a kewpie mayonnaise, chopped chives and XO sauce.
They haven’t published the recipe, though Nat and I figured it wasn’t that complicated and walked it back. And it is simple.
For a family gathering where entry required a plate, we did these buns and they were spot on. Absolutely spot on. They disappeared in under a minute.
Mantou buns are in the frozen section of any Asian grocer; ditto XO sauce, though always get the best you can find.
No doubt in the next little while we will do a contemporary Chinese banquet and these will absolutely get a run.
Ingredients:
25 Mantou buns 800gm large, cooked prawns 6 tbsp kewpie mayonnaise (or to taste) 1 heaped tsp XO Sauce, plus extra to serve Half a bunch of chives, cut into 2mm pieces Vegetable oil to deep fry
Method
Heat enough vegetable oil to fill a reasonable pot to 170c. Test the heat by lowering the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil. If it immediately bubbles, you’re there and reduce the heat slightly.
Pick and clean the prawns. Pulse in a food process until you have 5mm and 1cm piece of prawn. Stir through the mayonnaise, tasting as you go. Stir through the XO sauce, adding more if needed.
Deep fry the buns, a few at a time, ensuring all sides are golden. Drain and set aside on paper towels.
Whilst still warm, slice an incision in the top of the bun. Place a small amount of the prawn mixture into the incision and then a pea-sized amount of XO sauce on top.
Sunday is a long-lunch day and often, we do them at home.
Or more correctly this time, Nat did it at home. An utterly excellent, four course, lux-Chinese banquet.
This recipe by Terry Durack kicked the afternoon off and wow, it was a doozy of a dish. A dish that said things are going to be good.
The flavours are so mature and sophisticated; and it absolutely looks the part.
With Champagne… things were definitely good.
Ingredients
1/2 lup cheong sausage 1 tbsp vegetable oil plus 1 tsp for frying 5 medium prawns, peeled and cleaned 1 mild red chilli, finely sliced 50gm bean sprouts 3 eggs The green tops of 2 green spring onions, finely chopped 1 tbsp Thai fish sauce 1 tsp caster sugar Sea salt and black pepper 2 tsp oyster sauce 1 tbsp coriander leaves
Method
Place the lup cheong in a steamer and steam for 5 minutes yo soften, then finely slice. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok and stir-fry the prawns, lup cheong and half the chilli for 1-2 minutes over a high heat. Add the bean sprouts and toss for 30 seconds, and remove from the heat.
Lightly beat the eggs, half the onion tops, fish sauce, sugar, sea salt and pepper together with a fork. Heat 1 tsp oil in wok over a medium-high heat and swirl to coat the surface. Pour in the egg mixture and cook, using a fork to draw the mixture back into the centre, allowing the egg to cook.
When lightly set on top, lower the heat, scatter with the stir fry mixture and most of the remaining onion tops and cook for another 30 seconds or until the egg is cooked through. Slide the omelet from the wok onto a warmed plate; optionally fold the it over on itself. Drizzle oyster sauce on top, and scatter with the coriander and remaining onions and chilli. Serve immediately.
Aloo tikki is a popular Indian street food snack made with boiled potatoes, aromatic spices and herbs.
These patties are crispy on the outside and soft and aromatic on the inside. The peas stuffing really adds to the dish though often you find recipes that don’t include the peas.
Do not cut this corner.
They are absolutely moorish and your guests will have smiles all over.
Ingredients
Green peas and potatoes
4 to 5 large potatoes 1/2 c frozen baby peas 2.5 c water
For the stuffing
1/4 tsp red chilli powder or cayenne pepper 1/2 tsp coriander powder (ground coriander) 1/2 tsp fennel powder (ground fennel seeds) 1/2 teaspoon dry mango powder or ¼ to ½ teaspoon lemon juice 2 tsp finely chopped ginger 1 tsp finely chopped green chillies 2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves 2 pinches black salt Salt as required
For the potato mixture
1/2 tsp red chilli powder 1/2 tsp Garam Masala 1 tsp ground coriander 1 tsp dry mango powder or 1 tsp lemon juice 1/2 tsp cumin powder 1/2 tsp black salt Salt as required 1/4 c bread crumbs or add as required 1/4 c cornstarch (or as required) 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves 4 to 5 tbsp oil for frying the tikki or as required
Method
Cook the potatoes and the peas: I cooked mine together with the potatoes boiling under a trivet holding the peas in a metal bowl. This got a bit complicated so I would recommend peeling the potatoes and boiling them in a pot until soft.
Steam the peas in the microwave safe dish until soft. About 4 minutes.
Green pea stuffing: Take the peas in a bowl and mash them to a coarse texture.
To the peas, add red chilli powder or cayenne pepper, coriander powder, fennel powder, dry mango powder, finely chopped ginger, green chillies, coriander leaves, black salt and regular salt as per taste.
Potato mixture: Meanwhile drain the water from the potatoes and let them become warm.
When the potatoes are warm, mash or use a ricer. Let mashed potatoes cool completely.
Add chilli powder, Garam Masala, coriander powder, dry mango powder, black salt and regular salt as per taste.
Next add bread crumbs and cornflour and mix very well.
Stuffing and shaping: Divide the mixture into small or medium shaped patties with a hollow center or cup shaped discs. You can apply some oil on your palms when making the patties or tikki.
Place the green peas filling in the center.
Bring the mashed potato edges on the top and seal them.
Frying: Heat 2 tbsp oil on a heavy skillet (preferably cast iron) or frying pan till it is medium hot. Gently place the tikki and begin to pan-fry them
When the base is crispy and golden, gently flip each tikki with a spatula.
Fry the second side till crispy and golden. You can gently flip once or twice more till the aloo tikki are golden and crisp evenly.
Remove and on paper towels. Fry all tikkis this way. Add 2 tbsp more oil when frying the second batch.
Serve with coriander, chutney and yoghurt.
Stuffing the peas into the potato mixture before sealing.
Robby Dog Cooks 