Beetroot barley ‘risotto’
Here’s a dish that’s not a new idea; sometimes, you don’t need to reinvent wheels. Tried and true flavours simply work, and they work for a reason. PB and J. Pineapple and ham. Chocolate and mint. Lemon and fish. Maple syrup and bacon. They go together. That’s it. No need to overthink it. Beetroot and barley are another timeless combo…
Double salmon chowder
Allegedly there are people who don’t consider soup a meal, but we are not those people. We love soup. And here’s a particularly hearty, meal-in-a-bowl soup, chockers with veggies, salmon and big, boofy flavour. We’ve used smoked and fresh salmon for the fish part, but you could use fresh, white fish fillets (tarakihi, snapper, ling, for example) if you’d prefer…
Korean army noodles
If you’ve been itching to break out the frankfurters, Spam, processed cheese slices and generally All The Good Things, then – yay. Here’s your golden opportunity. Called budae jjigae in Korea, this unlikely dish first surfaced after the Korean War when many foods were scarce and people made do with what they could find…
Chickpea, turmeric and coconut soup
Looking for a budget-busting mid-week dinner? Then grab a packet of dried chickpeas, raid the neighbour’s lemon tree, buy a can of coconut cream and some curry leaves, then rummage in your pantry for the rest of what’s required here. If you want to add some meatiness to this already hearty soup, you could add chicken…
Slow cooker spice-honey lamb shoulder with jewelled rice
There’s something lovely about slow-cooker cooking. It makes meat juicy and really concentrates flavours. It’s pretty much impossible to overcook meat using a slow-cooker and unless you leave the lid off yours and go walkabout for a few days, nothing ever burns in one either…
Fragrant chicken-rice bake
Another day, another spin on the never fail rice-chook combo. You just can’t go wrong with these two staples. We’ve yet to meet anyone who dislikes either rice nor chicken, or objects to them together. There are so many culinary routes that lead to chicken and rice happiness…
Everything-good-for-you lamb köfte soup
If you want a virtuous, nutritious soup, or you just want to make 300g of mince stretch a long way… you’ll love this Turkish-inspired number. It’s also great when you’re looking for an alternative to the ubiquitous veggie, barley and chicken (or ham) meal-in-a-bowl that turns up…
Double pumpkin pasta
We bought you double-crumbed chicken, now we’re bringing you double-trouble pumpkin pasta! There’s nothing tricksy about this recipe; a smooth pumpkin sauce coats the pasta, with golden roasty bits of pumpkin for scattering over the top before you serve…
Fragrant lentils with caramelised onion and eggs
Oh. Don’t like lentils? You’re missing out. They’re seriously delicious and are an easy, healthy and cheap way to get filled up. Until you start pairing them with eggs of course, and then everything goes to heck in the budgeting department…
Spinach and lemon orzo with lamb snags
There’s a certain kind of tyranny baked into a recipe. “Cut that this big. Weigh those precisely. Use this sized pot. Cook for exactly this amount of time. No, DON’T stir yet. OK, stir NOW. And put a lid on that, would you?” …
Chicken-tofu salad with chicken stock rice
If tofu’s not your thing, maybe chicken is and you won’t notice there’s bean curd in the mix in this effortless Chinese-inspired dish. We genuinely love tofu, but totally get that some of you think it’s bland. TBH that’s kind of the point of tofu…
Gochujang pork, eggplant and whipped tofu
Darn. It’s back to reality with a dirty great thud after a glorious summer break, when we enjoy slumming it in the cooking department, letting our fresh produce purchases and whatever knocks around the fridge inform lazy dinner decisions. Very. Lazy. Dinner…
Quick-braised asparagus and lettuce (yes, really)
We heard you wanted some dead-easy sides for Christmas feasting. You didn’t? You’re getting some anyway. Such as this recipe from the ‘so-Frenchy-so-chic’ school of vegetable thought, which translates to not splashy, not majorly ‘on trend’…
Drowned soy sauce chook
Want to teach your kid to cook a main course dish they can’t really eff up? Soy Sauce Chicken. Out of inspo and don’t know what to cook? Soy Sauce Chicken. Need a dish that everyone will shut the heck up about and not whine “… but I don't like it”? Soy Sauce Chicken…
Mussels with chorizo, tomato and sherry vinegar
Mussels. So simple to cook, so delicious to eat and so darned good for you. An excellent source of lean protein, iron, selenium, iodine and omega-3 fatty acids, we should all be eating them more. There’s so much healthy stuff lurking in those shells…
Sausage ragu with pappardelle
Holy banging bangers, Batman; can sausages actually get better than their lovely, snag-y self, or what? We reckon they can and here’s Exhibit A… our sausage ragu. Perfect for tossing through pasta, it’s easy to make and is brilliant during these…
Arroz caldozo
Translating to ‘brothy rice’, this soupy brew is yummo, like all Spanish cooking generally is. Simple, with direct flavours and not a tonne of ingredients, it’s easy to whip up. The Moors brought rice to Spain in the 8th century and today it’s cultivated in Andalucía…
Borlotti bean and pasta soup
This type of rustic soup, often topped with shreds of the region’s famous radicchio, is popular in the Veneto region of Italy in winter. An example of cucina povera, literally the ‘cooking of the poor’, it speaks to a frugal approach and using what you’ve damned well got on hand…
Pork and parmesan meatballs in cider with roast apples
We never met a meatball we didn’t like, We l-o-v-e meatballs. The global meatball repertoire is huge; think polpette (Italy), kofte (Turkey), keftedes (Greece), albondigas (Spain), bakso (Indonesia), bun cha (Vietnam), frikadeller (Germany, Scandinavia and Poland), bitterballen (Netherlands) and the like…