Blonde minestrone with white pepper from In Praise of Veg
Cavolo nero is to my mind far easier to work with than the frilly conventional kales. It’s kind of like continental parsley versus curly parsley, with the latter only ever really working in sauces such as gremolata (or butcher-shop windows). This soup is fairly set-and-forget, once you get past the chopping bit. And if you […]
Roasted pumpkin x Smitten apple soup with caramelised maple pecan apple
You’ll spy Smitten apples adorning the shelves at the shops when the leaves start rustling in shades of rust, and when pumpkins are at their most ostentatious orange, too. Pumpkin soup is already quite sweet, so it’s the tang in this apple that elevates it, boosted with body from carrots and sweet potato. The caramelised […]
Blistered grape & feta pasta from The Joy of Better Cooking
Had I suggested that you bake a block of feta a decade ago, you might’ve thought it a typo. Make feta is what you mean, right, Alice? Yet since baked feta pasta went viral a few years back, the idea of coaxing flavours out of cheese and tomatoes by baking them together and serving them for dinner […]
Yarra Valley Dairy Persian Fetta & butter beans with red capsicum
Persian fetta is a shapeshifter, capable of both remaining firm and stead-fast when crumbled across the top of a platter or salad, and of yielding to a soft, velvety cream to enhance all manner of dishes from pasta to pesto. Here, I’ve utilised it in both capacities, first as a body-builder for the kind of […]
Cabbage slaw okonomiyaki pancake
One of my favourite ways of using up leftover slaw, especially if it’s the kind of oversized batch that feels like it’ll never end, is to fry it up into okonomiyaki pancakes. Which is just perfect, because as the title suggests, these pancakes are “as you like”. Add whatever you’ve got – even if you […]
Wet-fry mushroom noodles from The Joy of Better Cooking
I learned to wet-fry mushrooms on a mushroom foraging tour with Jim, a tall Texan, and Chris, a mycologist-slash-Hobbit. Chris showed us how to find even the most magic of mushrooms, while Jim explained that as mushrooms aren’t technically vegetables, they behave differently when boiled; magic happens! Rather than their cell structure breaking down or […]
The ‘any kind of onion’ tarte tatin from In Praise of Veg
If you’ve ever had a tarte tatin starring apples or pears, you might find yourself wondering what onions, leeks and shallots are doing in a dessert. And it’s certainly true that this dish, which originated at the Hotel Tatin in France over 120 years ago, was likely never intended as a savoury. But if you […]
Swede spiral tian with balsamic glaze from In Praise of Veg
This is such a visually arresting dish, and frankly, such a fabulous way of making use of a veg that is so often seen as a bit drab.
Silverbeet khachapuri from In Praise of Veg
This cheese bread (khacha meaning ‘cheese’, puri meaning ‘bread’) has over 20 different regional iterations, across a reasonably small country, which should give you a sense of how seriously Georgians take their food. Silverbeet is usually reserved for mkhlovana or pkhali dip – so I hope they’ll forgive its addition to this adjaruli khachapuri, which […]
Seven Spice Butternut Squash Tagine from In Praise of Veg
Few dishes can boast being both moreish – in that you just cannot ever have enough – and Moorish, as in pertaining to north African cuisine. Tagine is one of them. You’ll end up with more spice mix than you need, but the leftovers will stay fragrant in a jar for up to 2 months, […]
