Antipasto salad

Ingredients (serves 6)
330g (18 slices) marinated chargrilled eggplant
150g marinated mixed chargrilled capsicum, torn into strips
120g semi-dried tomatoes
180g ctn South Cape Persian Fetta
2 tbs balsamic glaze
70g baby rocket leaves

Method
Arrange the eggplant, capsicum and tomato on a large serving platter.
Carefully drain the feta, reserving the oil. Whisk the reserved oil and balsamic glaze in a bowl until well combined. Drizzle over the vegetables, reserving 1 tablespoon of the dressing. Crumble the feta and sprinkle over the vegetables.
Combine the reserved dressing and rocket in a bowl. Top the vegetables with the rocket mixture.

Summer corn salad

Ingredients
6 ears corn, husked and cleaned
3 large tomatoes, diced
1 large onion, diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar
salt and pepper to taste


Directions
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook corn in boiling water for 7 to 10 minutes, or until desired tenderness. Drain, cool, and cut kernels off the cob with a sharp knife.
In a large bowl, toss together the corn, tomatoes, onion, basil, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Chill until serving.

Roast Duck, Chargrilled Peach and Orange Salad

Ingredients

1/2 of a Chinese roast BBQ duck
1 large yellow peach (slightly firm)
Olive Oil
1 large orange, peeled, pithed and segmented
150g baby salad leaves and/or baby spinach leaves
Handful each of Thai basil and Vietnamese mint

[Dressing]

Original flung-together recipe

1 Tbl orange zest
1 Tbl (15ml) each of orange and lime juice
2 Tbl (30ml) plum sauce
60ml extra virgin olive oill
Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper, to taste
Sliced and deseeded fresh chilli, to taste

Method

For the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a jar, screw on the lid and shake shake shake!

Peel the meat off the duck and shred. Discard the bones and fat.

Cut the peach in half and take out the stone. Brush the halves with oil and chargrill cut side down. Slice into wedges.

Toss the shredded duck, peach slices and salad leaves together. Top with fresh herbs, spoon over the dressing and garnish with orange slices.

Dan dan noodles

(Serves 4-6)

Ingredients

500g pork mince
50ml light soy sauce
50ml Chinese rice wine (aka Shao Tsing, Shao Hsing or Shaoxing)
Ground white pepper

500g Chinese wheat noodles
50ml vegetable oil plus extra for the noodles
100g Tianjin preserved vegetables
2 Tbl of Sichuan peppercorns, or to taste
45ml Chinese rice wine
80ml light soy sauce
15ml dark soy sauce
60-120ml red chilli oil (adjust to your spiciness level)
2 tsps brown rice vinegar (can be substituted with balsamic or Chinese black vinegar)
500ml chicken stock
2-3 Tbl caster sugar, or to taste
Scallions, sliced thinly
Red chillis, deseeded and slice thinly

Method

Combine the pork mince, soy sauce, rice wine and white pepper and set aside to marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.

Meanwhile, rinse the Tianjin preserved veges (to rinse off the excess saltiness), squeeze to dry then drain on paper towels. Pound the Sichuan pepper in a mortle and pestle to a fine powder.

After the pork has marinated, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook your wheat noodles according to the packet’s instructions until tender. Drain, rinse with cold water and drain again. Add a dash of vegetable oil and toss to keep the noodles from sticking. Set aside while you prepare the sauce.

In a wok, heat the 50ml vege oil over medium-high heat. Add the drained preserved veges and fry until fragrant. Add the marinated pork mince and fry for a couple of minutes until browned.

Add the rice wine and cook for a further minute. Add all the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes to develop the flavours.

Divide the noodles in serving bowls, ladle the hot sauce and pork mince over and garnish with scallions and chillis if using.

Notes on recipe:

• Any type and thickness noodles can be used in this recipe whether it’s egg or wheat. Pantry empty? Spaghetti or thin linguine can be used to substitute. I prefer to use thicker 100% wheat noodles (the ones I buy looks like linguine).

• Sichuan Dan Dan Noodles tends to be less sweeter and more spicier. “Westernised” and Taiwanese (so I’ve been told) versions tend to be sweeter, milder, have a thicker sauce and include a bit of sesame paste or peanut butter.

• Feel free to mix it up with the sauce if you like. Add chinese mushrooms / shitakes to the noodles or garnish with chinese greens. This is a dish that is easy to play with to your heart’s desire.

Irish Stew

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

• 700g beef chuck, diced into 2cm pieces
• 700g deboned fatty lamb, diced into 2cm pieces (leg, shoulder or neck)
• 1 large leek, halved lengthwise and sliced into 1cm thickness
• 8 cloves of garlic
• 4 Tbl (1/4 cup) of plain flour
• 140g tomato paste
• 375ml of Guinness Extra Stout
• 1 L of beef or lamb stock (or a combo of the two)
• 1.5 Tbl of worcestershire sauce (magical stuff, I add it in everything lol!)
• Bouquet Garni – 4 sprigs of rosemary, 6 sprigs of thyme, 3 bay leaves – tied together
• 2 large carrots (about 450g), peeled and chopped into 1.5cm pieces
• 5-6 large waxy potatoes (about 800g), peeled and chopped into 2cm pieces (soak in cold water if preparing ahead)
• 1-2 Tbl sugar (or to taste)
• 1-2 tsp of salt (or to taste)
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 Tbl freshly chopped parsley to garnish (optional)

Method

In a casserole pot, heat up some oil, then brown the beef and lamb in small batches until evenly seared all over. Remove and set aside while you brown the rest but keep the beef and lamb separate.

Add another dash of oil in the same pot, then sauté the leeks and garlic until softened.

Add the beef and all the meat juices. Shower over the flour and stir to coat (don’t worry when it starts to look grossly gluggy). Cook for a minute or two.

Add the tomato paste, Guinness, stock and worcestershire sauce and stir, making sure to scrape the bottom. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to the lowest, add the fresh herbs and simmer gently for about an hour.

Add the lamb, carrots and potatoes and simmer for another 45 minutes to an hour or until the veges are cooked and the meat is tender.

Remove the bouquet garni and add the sugar, salt and pepper and season to taste.

Serve immediately (or even better, the next day) with crusty bread and garnish with parsley.

Print this recipe

Cooking Notes

• Do not trim all the fat off the lamb because this will help keep the meat tender and flavoursome. But make sure to simmer the stew slowly. If you cook it too rapidly it will break down the meat and fat into the stew and make it overly greasy.

• Irish Stew traditionally contains lamb but feel free to substitute with anything you like. The meat is also not normally browned so skip this step if you wish to save time.

• I like using a combination of beef and lamb stock in the stew. I do this by simmering lamb leg bones in a ready made beef stock for about an hour to give it an extra oomph in flavour. But if you only have beef, then that is totally fine too.

• Lamb doesn’t take long to cook and tenderise so that’s why I always add it after the beef. Beef normally takes around 2-2.5 hours depending on the cut and thickness and lamb takes around 45-60 minutes.

• Feel free to change it up or adjust the ingredients and measurements whether it’s changing the stock, meat, veges, or adding more or less sugar, salt or beer (more beer I say!). The beauty of stews is that it’s totally versatile.

Pumpkin, Chickpea and Lemongrass Curry

Ingredients

[For paste]

2 large golden shallots (or 3 French shallots), peeled and roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
10 dried chillis, soaked in hot water to soften then drained
2 large red chillis, deseeded and sliced
2.5cm (1 inch) nub of young ginger or galangal, peeled and sliced
1 lemongrass, lower bulb removed and sliced thinly
2 kaffir lime leaves
1/2 Tbl of oil

[For curry]

200ml coconut milk
250ml vegetable/chicken stock or water
100g dried chickpeas, soaked in cold water overnight and cooked
500g sweet pumpkin, rind removed and chopped into 3 cm chunks
150-200g green beans, chopped into 5cm lengths
1 Tbl of (firmly packed) brown sugar or palm sugar (or to taste)
2 kaffir lime leaves
Fish sauce
Coriander

Method

You’ll need to begin this recipe the day before. Soak the dried chickpeas in plenty of cold water in the fridge for at least 24 hours. Then bring a pot of water to a boil and add the soaked chickpeas. Simmer for about 1.5 hours or until chickpeas are cooked through. Strain and set aside.

To make the paste, grind all the paste ingredients together in a food processor or mortar pestle until it has been completely pulverised.

In a wok or pot, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Add the ground paste and fry for a few minutes or until fragrant (be careful not to burn).

Add the coconut milk and stock/water. Bring to a boil then reduce to a low simmer. Add the pumpkin, cooked chickpeas and kaffir lime leaves and simmer gently for about 10 minutes before adding the green beans. Simmer for a further 30-35 minutes or until the vegetables are tender (time may vary depending on the thickness of your diced pumpkin).

Season with brown/palm sugar for sweetness and fish sauce for saltiness. Feel free to add more stock or water if the curry is too thick for your liking (personally I prefer it a little liquidy for perfect rice drenching).

Garnish with coriander and serve with steamed rice or white sticky rice.