Category: Dinner
-
Chicken-scallion Dumplings
Once you get the hang of it, making these delectable dumplings is really easy. I buy the round papers from the supermarket and don’t bother to crimp the edges or do anything fancy. Just a border of water around the edges and light pressure will make them stick. Then it’s a pan steam and fry […]
-
Turkey-Cheddar Burgers
Hold the bun or serve on your favourite seeded one, these are great when you want a break from red meat burgers. Lower cholesterol than beef, turkey also has a lower ecological footprint meaning you can feel better about your impact on the earth when you eat it. Full of cheddar, you can make them […]
-
Middle Eastern Charcuterie Board
With the relentless heat and humidity we are experiencing in South Eastern Queensland, the last thing I wanted to do tonight was run the oven. Cold dinners are the only thing I can stomach at the moment. This type of meal is infinitely adaptable and turns boring sandwich meats into a classy, family style, shareable […]
-
A colourful Mexican table
Taco night is always a winner in our house. Everyone gets practice making their own taco and eating with their hands. While it is a little work getting 4 different dishes to the dinner table, none of the dishes are really very tricky. Which is why I am not probably going to write up any […]
-
Turkey meatball soup with orzo
A soup inspired by “Italian wedding soup” but with the addition of tomatoes in the broth. Feel free to swap out turkey for chicken mince here. The meatballs are cooked beforehand in the oven and added to the soup minutes before serving. I personally love orzo for it’s small size and ability to be slurped […]
-
Farmers’ chicken – a James Beard recipe
Here in Australia, butchers call the skin-on, bone-in leg/thigh combo cut ‘chicken Maryland’. These cuts make a beautiful, rich sauce due to their high fat content and gelatin that gets released during braising. If you cannot find this particular cut, go for skin-on thighs & legs. This recipe is rather unusual, and contains no tomatoes; […]
-
Cobb Salad
With the very hot, humid summer we have been experiencing here in South East Queensland, the very thought of grain or starch is off-putting. This was such a fun meal to put together, and very easy when using the oven to roast both the bacon and chicken thighs simultaneously. A very minimal preparation for a […]
-
Japanese home style chicken curry
If you’ve never tried Japanese curry bricks you’re missing out. I learned about these flavour-bombs recently and lucked upon them at a specialty food store. They are packed full of flavour but not at all spicy and disintegrate very quickly into a soup or broth. Granted it’s not stew weather here but this was an […]
-
Chicken Jambalaya with kangaroo sausage
Suffice it to say, I cannot find andouille sausage in Gold Coast, Australia – I really didn’t try. Maybe if I made the trek to Brisbane I could chance upon something similar at a Farmers Market. The best I could do was this “kanga banga” which I’ve wanted to sample since moving to Australia 4 […]
-
Thyme Pizza (Manouche)
No, I have not successfully fed these to the kids, but who cares? Life’s too short to only eat kid-friendly. I received an exciting present in the mail this week from my Mum in Canada – a Cookbook called “Rose Water & Orange Blossoms” by Maureen Abood. Of course, I got straight to work making […]
-
Massman lamb shank curry with cauliflower
Since I’m on a jar-sauce kick, I dug out a forgotten jar of Massman curry paste I had in my pantry and put it to work. Massman paste is a lovely cinnamon flavoured blend of deep curry richness that creates a dark yellow sauce when mixed with coconut milk. Lamb shanks are my cut of […]
-
Gado Gado
With another full weekend of insatiably hot and humid temperatures, a cold salad really hit the spot. Plus I figured out how to make my own satay sauce after buying some kecap manis (think treacle mixed with soy sauce). Definitely give this one a go – the veggies were so delicious with the accompanying sauce […]
-
Coconut Satay Chicken bake
Malaysian cuisine is definitely not one I am familiar with being from Canada with a Lebanese background. My husband however, being from the South, waxes poetic about Laksa, and has taken me on missions around his hometown of Sydney to find that epic bowl of Spicy, tangy, noodley goodness that he craves. So when I […]
-
Potato gnocchi in a Rosé sauce
To read Diana Henry speak about handling these little dumplings like you would flowers, it is a perfect analogy. They need a light touch and some delicate manipulation but they are a great way to use up leftover potatoes and are far superior to the chewy, hard little nuggets they call gnocchi at the grocery […]
-
Fried calamari
Don’t do what I did and buy the freshest calamari you can buy – going to the trouble of cleaning it, de-boning it and fretting over how thin to cut your tubes. Only to have your final product turn out rubbery. Don’t do that. Just go to the freezer section of your local grocery store […]
Allspice & Olive 