Latest Content:
Beans Like Mama Used To Cook
This old Italian dish reminds me so much of my childhood, when the beans went on at the same time as the roast. Difference being these really taste terrific.
Good old Aussie gels made a habit of cooking beans until they were as grey as a losing punter. Soft, podgy, full of water, good only for [...]
Classic White Sauce For Cauli
A white sauce is the most simple of classic dishes. And it really does go beautifully with cauliflower, particularly when the white sauce is mixed at the end with an aggressive melting cheese like cheddar. It’s very simple to make. Just measure out equal quantities of butter and flour, and have plenty of simmering milk [...]
Veal Roast
6 slices bacon, fat reduced but not eliminated
roast of veal
several sprigs of rosemary
a little lemon juice
a little butter
salt
black pepper
1
Heat the oven to 200°C. Lay half the bacon on the base of the pan and heat until sizzling. Put the veal on top of the cooking bacon, and place the rest of the bacon on top [...]
Beans and The Pressure Cooker
Too often beans are what comes in cans, either complete with sauce, or pre-cooked and ready to be added to the sauce of your choice. The pressure cooker brings all sorts of beans and all sorts of flavours into your sphere of cooking potential.
Beans are as much fun to play with as pasta and rice, [...]
Mussels in a rich tomato sauce
You’re hooked. You loved the pasta starter, now for the real fun. Start thinking. Start adding. Start creating havoc.
Pasta shapes were not all about bored artisans getting trendy, and offering the yuppies of the 12th century the pasta shape you need when you’re tired of spaghetti! More to the point: different shapes for different sauces. [...]
Risotto with tomato and lime
This is a product of the tomato season, that time of the year when you’ve got the little red marvels bubbling away on top of the stove. Ladled into risotto, every grain is infused with that delicious richness of tomato puree.
Cooking, in my life, has more to do with what’s at hand than what’s in [...]
Eggplant with pesto
The eggplant might be the most gorgeous looking of the summer vegetables, a true aristocrat of the garden. But surely it’s the most underrated when, like The Phantom, it leaves the bush and walks the kitchen like the rest of the garden world.
A surprise pea and ham soup
An oldie, and a goldie. Trouble is the season for great peas is not necessarily the season for great soups. But then again, I love ice creams when the weather is freezing.
Stir-fried lamb fillets
Tiny lamb fillets are a treasure, too often forgotten in the search for legs and loins and chops. They’re easy to prepare, quick to cook, and there’s absolutely no waste.
Risotto with tuna
The heat retained in risotto makes it a natural for cooking fish without effort, while retaining any of the juice of the fish that might run free. Tuna is an excellent partner, chunky and bitey and aggressive, particularly when kept undercooked.