Pumpkin Chilli

Finding myself with a surfeit of pumpkin from the garden, and a craving for chilli, I searched around until I found this recipe. It really is a delicious combination, and you won't even notice that this is not a 'con carne'. That said, I love to throw in a little chorizo or bacon to smoke things up a bit. I modified the ingredients slightly, since I don't know what was in their 'chilli powder', but I assume you wouldn't want an Indian-style chilli powder, and that's all that's available here. You can leave this in the fridge for a few days and the flavours will keep developing.

Ingredients

• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 2 red or green peppers, chopped
• 750g butternut squash or eating pumpkin, peeled and chopped
• 100g of smoked bacon or cured chorizo, finely diced (optional)
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground paprika
• 1/2 to 1 tsp chilli flakes (up to you)
• 1/2 tsp cocoa powder
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 can diced tomatoes, including the liquid
• 2 cans kidney or black eye beans
• 300-500ml vegetable stock
• 2 avocados
• sour cream (optional)
• crispy tortilla strips
• fresh leaf coriander (optional, for garnish)

Method

In a large Le Creuset or sauce pan, sautée the chopped vegetables (onion, pepper, squash, garlic) and bacon or sausage, if using, in one to two tablespoons of olive oil on medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until the onions are translucent. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add all of the spices canned ingredients and stock, and stir. Don't use all of the stock if it looks like it will make the chilli very runny, but feel free to top up as it cooks if it looks too dry. Cover for about one hour, stirring occasionally.

By the time your chilli is done, the butternut squash should be nice and tender and the liquid should have reduced a bit, producing the hearty chilli consistency that we all know and love. Serve the chilli in individual bowls, topped with diced avocado and sour cream, if using. Use the strips to eat mouthfuls of chilli!

Yasai Itameru (Stir-fried tofu in coconut noodles)

I went back to the Wagamama cookbook for this one, and it wasn't half bad. I think the recipes still lack focus, having too many different kinds of vegetables, and the quantities are all over the place. However the sauce was very tasty, if a little rich. I also think it's silly to try to stir fry tofu at the same time as your vegetables: you can get a nice crispy skin if you do them separately, as shown in the photo. I'm posting my amended recipe rather than their original.

Ingredients
For the sauce

• 1 garlic clove
• a thumb of ginger
• two lemongrass sticks
• 100ml hot water
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tsp sugar
• 100g in of coconut milk or cream (depending on how fat you feel)

For the stir-fry

• 75g rice noodles
• 1 red chilli
• 1 red onion
• a bunch of Chinese vegetables, like pak choi
• 50g sweet potato (about an inch from the middle)
• 200g firm tofu, cut into cubes
• a bunch of fresh coriander
• juice of half a lime (or lemon)
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce

Crush the garlic, peel and grate the ginger, and finely shred the lemongrass. Cook in a small saucepan in the hot water until the garlic has softened. Stir in the remaining ingredients and cook gently for a few minutes, but don't let it boil or the coconut milk can separate.

Cook the noodles according to their packet instructions. Peel and (if you like) deseed the chilli, then finely chop. Finely slice the red onion. Julienne the sweet potato. Clean and separate the pak choi. Stir fry the sweet potato and red onion until becoming tender, then add the rest of the vegetables and stir fry until just barely cooked, then remove from the pan to free it up for the tofu. Stir fry the tofu until golden and crispy, then return the vegetables to the pan and squeeze over the lime juice and soy sauce. Combine the noodles with the coconut sauce, and serve the vegetables over the top of them, topped with the coriander and a lemon or lime segment.

Sweet Potato, Carrot and Chick Pea Soup

A super-simple meal for Cambridge telecon night, cribbed from this recipe, but with a whole tsp of chilli flakes extra at the start, and leaving the chick peas until right at the end, because cooking them from the tin is totally unnecessary. Topped with  a splob of natural yoghurt, some coriander leaves, and served with a beautiful hearty fresh sourdough from our breadmaker.

Butter Chicken

When I visited India, we had one particularly amazing meal out at a rather fancy restaurant, where the meals cost a whole $10! A friend of mine ordered this and I remembered that it's often cited as the measure of an Indian restaurant; if the butter chicken is good, then everything else is probably good too. His was excellent. We've had a couple of chicken breasts in the freezer for a while and I've been intending to do 'something Indian' to them. Then at the Good Food and Wine show I picked up a really nice 'butter chicken' spice mix and all the pieces fell into place. I don't normally use spice mixes but I tried a bit with some bread and olive oil and it tasted so much like the real thing from India that I couldn't resist :)

I used this taste.com.au recipe for a starting point, although we dropped the amount of yoghurt since I was worried cooking it would make it separate, and we found the overall result bit too tomatoey, so this recipe has a reduced amount of puree. We couldn't bring ourselves to pour in the amount of cream they said to use, but feel free if you weren't using those arteries anyway! We served it with some plain rice and spicy & sour green beans: perfect counterpoint.

Ingredients:

• two large chicken breasts
• 2 tsbp yoghurt
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp turmeric, 2 tsp garam masala, 1/2 tsp chilli flakes, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground cardamom, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 2 tsp of paprika (or 4 tbsp of butter chicken spice mix!)
• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 125g cashews, roasted
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 Indian bay leaf or normal bay leaf
• 200g can tomato puree
• 150ml chicken stock
• 125ml double cream (double the quantity for extra richness)
• fresh coriander, to garnish

Slice the chicken breasts into bite-size pieces. Put in a bowl and toss with the yoghurt, lemon juice, spices, ginger and garlic; marinade overnight, or for a couple of hours if possible.

Blitz half of the cashews in a blender until well-ground. Gently fry the onion in a little oil, then add the chicken and toss about until the spices are fragrant. Tip in the ground cashews, tomato puree, bay leaf and stock, and simmer for fifteen minutes, until the chicken is cooked. Stir in the cream and warm through; serve over rice, topped with a handful of coriander leaves and the remaining toasted cashews.

Miso Soup

I've been in Seattle for the last week and am absolutely knackered, jet-lagged, and confused. And did I mention tired? I probably did.

Luckily my super husband knows that after a long day's travel -- or two, I think, at least it was Friday at one point, if only for a few minutes -- all I want is something calming, nourishing and above all rehydrating. Enter the Japanese staple, fortified with a handful of udon noodles, a stir-fried pak choi and spring onion, and a handful of coriander leaves.

Now all I need to do is stay awake until 8pm and I'll be... *snore*...

Moglai Biriani

I've been in Tasmania for most of the last week, hence the lack of updates. Tazzie cuisine is excellent, featuring lots of fresh seafood and local produce. It was also wonderful to see so many apple varieties again - shame I couldn't take any back to WA, what with the quarantine.

Today we went into Perth to catch up on some bits and pieces of shopping we hadn't got round to in ages. One important task was to use a very generous book voucher we had received for the wedding from a friend. As you may have seen me complaining, I really could do with a few new cookbooks for inspiration! I found a rather hefty and inspiring tome - The Complete Asian Cookbook, which tours every country east of Turkey and north of Australia. I need to buy a few things from the market next weekend, but I did manage to put together a pretty amazing moglai biriani tonight, even with half the ingredients missing. What follows is what I actually made, but I thoroughly recommend picking up the cookbook yourself and trying the full, correct recipe.

Complete with Tasmanian Devil oven glove purchased
from Hobart's excellent Salamanca market!

Ingredients:
For the lamb:

• 1 medium onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 300g of lamb chunks
• 1/2 tsp crushed black onion seed
• 1 tsp powdered cumin
• 1/2tsp dried chilli
• a large handful of fresh mint leaves
• one tomato, roughly chopped
• juice of half a lemon

For the pilau:

• 1 medium onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 100g basmati rice
• 3 bay leaves
• a chicken stock cube
• a handful of sultanas

For the topping:

• a handful of almonds
• half a cup of frozen peas
• a sprig of fresh coriander leaf

Finely chop the two onions and fry gently for five minutes, until golden. Crush in the garlic, stir for a further minute, then split between two pans, preferably a stainless steel suitable for cooking rice, and a heavy oven-proof casserole pot, like a small Le Creuset. To the latter, add the lamb chunks, onion seed, cumin, chilli, mint leaves, tomato and lemon juice; cover and simmer for an hour, checking occasionally and adding water if you find it sticking.

Meanwhile, toast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns and remove to a mortar and pestle once fragrant, then crush finely. Stir in the cinnamon and nutmeg, then add all of the spices to the onion and garlic in the stainless steel pan, along with the rice. Fry for a minute, then add the bay leaves, stock cube and sultanas, and twice as much boiling water as rice. Simmer for 20 minutes, checking occasionally and adding more water if you find it sticking - do not stir.

Ten minutes before the lamb is done, start the oven preheating to 160C. When the lamb is cooked and the sauce around it has thickened and become fairly dry, remove it from the casserole, and replace with half of the rice. Put the lamb back on top of the rice, then cover with the remaining half of the rice. Cover the casserole pot and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Five minutes before the end, lay the almonds out on a baking tray and toast in the oven; keep an eye out so they don't burn. Remove and roughly chop. Heat the peas in boiling water in a microwave, then drain. Remove the biriani from the oven and serve, topped with the almonds, peas and coriander leaf.

Spice-Rub Roast Beef and Corn Bread

Yesterday I went to the butcher and once again marveled at how cheap beef is! Well... when in Rome :) So I bought a huge (1kg) topside roasting piece for $12. Over last week we used the nice leafy bits of a bunch of coriander and the inside of a stick of lemongrass, so we had all the husky stemmy rooty bits left over. I thought they'd make a great base for a spice rub for the piece of beef, so I whizzed them up in a blender, along with a whole red chilli, a few tsp of whole coriander seeds, a slosh of soy sauce and a tbsp of vegetable oil. I rubbed the mixture all over the piece of meat and roasted it indirectly in the BBQ for 45 minutes - a little rarer than the packet instructions of 25 minutes per 500g.

To go with, I was tempted to make Sophie's pots again. But it's Sunday, and if I'm not going to innovate at the weekend, when else will I?? I poked around the cupboards for a bit until I spotted half a bag of corn bread mix - not a full add-water-and-go mix, just a nice combination of corn flour, white flour and corn meal. We'd used it in the bread maker before but I figured it would work well if I adapted a recipe I found online to use it instead. I also got to use these darling little non-stick baking tins my mum gave me at Xmas, so that we could each have our own tiny little loaf! Exquisite :) A couple leaves of lettuce and the meal was complete - and well within the spec of the BBQ challenge week rules, which I appear to have completely adopted on hot days!

Ingredients

• 1 ear of sweet corn on the cob
• 1 cup of corn bread mix (or half and half white flour and corn meal)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup natural yoghurt
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven (or use an indirect heat on a BBQ) to 180-200C. BBQ, steam or grill the corn until tender - and if possible, singed and golden. Hold the cob vertically, using a corn-on-the-cob-holder or fork if you need, and use a sharp knife to strip off the kernels. Leave to cool while you make the batter. Mix all the rest of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, stirring and folding until the flour has just stopped appearing. Add the sweet corn kernels, stir, then scrape into two 2x4" baking tins, or one small loaf tin. (You could also double the recipe back up to the original, and use a 19" cake tin). Bake for 35-45 minutes (45-55 if you double the recipe). Serve with butter or margarine for spreading.

Rice Paper Rolls

I was amazed to find that I hadn't yet blogged this recipe, as it's become such a family favourite over the last few years. It's a meal best prepared by two or three people, as there are many stages that can be performed in parallel. After a couple of times making it, you'll find it takes less than an hour, and it's also a lot of fun!

Rice paper can be purchased in Asian grocery stores - usually one pack is enough for eight people, and costs only a few pounds / dollars. The rolls end up being about as long as half the diameter of the rice paper, so if you want small ones, buy small rice paper; large, buy large!

You can use whatever dipping sauce you like; I often use satay, but hoisin, plum or even just a little light soy sauce would all work perfectly. The filling ingredients can also be varied easily, and you don't need to make all of them the same. We often serve these rolls with hameul pajeon in a kind of Pan-Asian feast, but they work equally well with steamed rice or a light Asian-style salad, or just alone (and preferably, a bit smaller than shown here) as starters.

Instead of giving a guide to making an exact number of rolls (impossible!), I give examples of fillings, which you can use in equal volumes and just scale how much you cook depending on how many people you have. Don't feel like you need to include all of the ingredients, just pick the flavours you feel like using. The ones in the picture use carrot, cucumber, rice noodles, tonkatsu, mint and coriander.

Filling ingredients:

• fresh herbs: mint, coriander, basil
• cool crisp shredded vegetables: carrot, cucumber, lettuce
• protein: tonkatsu, cold shredded beef, crispy duck, cold lemon chicken, deep-fried marinaded tofu, fresh tofu, tamagoyaki (sweet Japanese omelette), cooked shitake mushrooms, cooked prawns
• carbs: cold rice, cold coconut rice, cold sweet rice, thick azuki bean paste, cooked rice noodles, fried rice noodles

You will also need:

• a stack of dry rice paper rounds
• hot water (boil a kettle and leave for at least 30 seconds)
• a frying pan, deep enough to take some hot water and wide enough to easily place in and remove the rice paper
• soft tongs, a wide slotted spatula, or asbestos fingers
• two large, clean, flat plates

Start by preparing all of your ingredients - wash and pick leaves from herbs, shred the vegetables, cook your protein and ready your carbs. It's helpful to arrange these in small bowls or plates around the work surface where you will be making the rolls. Prepare any dipping sauces ahead; chill if needed.

Pour hot water into your frying pan and place a single rice paper round in it. Leave for 30 seconds or so, until malleable, then remove using the tongs, spatula, or just your fingers. If it tears easily as you remove it, you have left it in too long, so discard and leave the next one in for less time. If it is not easily flexible and malleable, put it back in. If the water goes cold, discard it and refresh with new hot water. If you run out of water, top it up! It's really nice to have one person readying rice paper and one or two others filling the rolls.

Place the ready rice paper round on one of the plates and add your fillings. I found this beautiful guide to rolling them perfectly, so check it out if you're not sure how much to add or how to roll. When it's all rolled up, place on the other plate. If you need to wait before serving them, make sure to sprinkle them with water and cover with cling film, or cover with a very damp teatowel, so that they don't dry out. They will last several hours unserved, but if you refrigerate them over night, the rice paper has a tendency to stick to itself, so they may tear as you pull them apart. If you really needed to keep them and not let them tear, you could put cling film between each one, but it's a bit of a waste of plastic :) Just eat them and enjoy!

Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Dhal

I really thought I had recorded this on here before, but I'm amazed to find that I've overlooked it! This is my fast dhal recipe - great as just a lunchtime snack with a bit of rice or bread, or a delicious protein component to any curry-type meal. The fried onion topping can be neglected if you're in a hurry, or replaced with baghar if you're feeling really authentic. I think I came up with this recipe independently, but it closely resembles Nigella Lawson's recipe. Convergent evolution or forgetful emulation? Either way it's delicious :) Like the aubergine curry I served it with, this serves four.

Ingredients:

• one large red sweet potato
• 1 thumb fresh ginger, finely grated
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp ground turmeric
• a pinch of chilli flakes
• 250g red lentils
• 300ml hot water
• a small white onion, or half a large white onion

Peel the sweet potato and cut into 1cm dice. Fry in a little vegetable oil with the ginger for five minutes, stirring occasionally, to get a bit of caramelisation. Add the spices and lentils, and fry for a further minute. Pour in the hot water, cover and simmer for half an hour, until the lentils are cooked and the sweet potato has collapsed. You may need to stir and top up the water every so often; the end result should be deliciously thick and spoonable, rather than runny. Season with salt after the lentils are cooked - about 1tsp will be needed.

Meanwhile, peel the onion and finely slice into half-moons. Fry gently in a little vegetable oil for 10-15 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until completely caramelised and just beginning to blacken.

Stir the dhal briskly with a large wooden spoon, or mash roughly with a potato masher, until soft but not pureed. Serve topped with the fried onions.

Shark with Spiced Rice and Orange and Avocado Salsa

Terrible person alert: I saw shark at a fishmonger and bought it. Then ate it. Argh. But it was such a delicious apex predator! I can only hope I'm so delicious when our insect overlords finally arrive. I don't know how to cook shark, so I had a look round on the internet, then invented my own recipe. It was pretty awesome.

Ingredients:

• For the shark:
• 300g of shark fillets
• half a cup of orange juice
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• For the rice:
• a handful of cashew nuts
• 200g basmati rice
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• two bay leaves
• two lime leaves
• a handful of frozen peas
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• butter
• For the salsa:
• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 ripe orange
• juice of half a lime
• a handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
• a little finely chopped red onion (optional)

Marinade the shark for 1-24 hours in the orange juice and chilli.

Halve, peel and cut the avocado into chunky pieces. Peel the orange with a sharp knife and cut segments out, leaving all the pith behind. Squeeze the juice from the remaining core and combine with the orange segments, avocado pieces, chopped coriander, lime juice and onion, if using. Stand for 30min-2 hours before serving.

Toast the cashew nuts, either in a non-stick pan on the hob or in a 200C oven for five minutes. Put the rice, turmeric, cinnamon, coriander, bay and lime leaves in a small saucepan and add hot water at a 2:1 ratio. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, until the rice is cooked but still has form. Fry the mustard seeds in butter for thirty seconds then stir through with the peas. Chop the cashews and just before you serve.

Brush a cast-iron ridged griddle pan with vegetable oil and heat until it is just beginning to smoke. Fry the shark fillets for 90 seconds each side, until charred with grill marks and cooked through. Serve on top of the rice, with a dollop of salsa on top and more in a bowl to serve.

Barramundi and Pepper Curry

This is roughly based on a taste.com.au recipe, but with red pepper (capsicum, as they call it here) substituted for the chick peas. Personally I would cut them a lot smaller than the SO did, but he was cooking while I was out exercising, so I can't complain :)

Ingredients:

• a fresh long red chilli, deseeded, coarsely chopped
• a stem lemon grass, white part only, finely chopped
• 1small white onion, peeled, chopped
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 thumb fresh ginger
• 2 tsp chopped fresh coriander root
• 1 red pepper (capsicum), deseeded and cut into small pieces
• 1 tin of coconut milk
• 125ml chicken stock
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 300g barramundi fillets, cut into large pieces
• a handful of frozen peas

Blend the chilli, lemongrass, onion, garlic, ginger and coriander roots in a blender until minced. Fry paste in a wok over medium heat for 1 minute, then add the diced red pepper and fry, stirring, for another 2-3 minutes. Add the stock, fish sauce and sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, for another couple of minutes. Add fish and cook for 2-3 minutes or until flesh flakes easily when tested with a fork. Add chickpeas and frozen peas and heat through; serve with plain rice.

Pad Thai

Tuesdays I have an evening telecon, so the lovely husband takes over the reins in the kitchen. I find the best results are achieved by giving him a detailed recipe, and placing all of the ingredients out where he can find them. And giving him about twice as long as I would need ;) Tonight he absolutely excelled with this recipe, again from taste.com.au. Although we halved the proteins, this was still a generous quantity of food, and I took some to lunch the next day. So cut down on the noodles if you're not super-hungry.

Ingredients:

• 250g packet flat rice noodles
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1 chicken breast, thinly sliced
• 250g prawns, peeled, deveined
• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced diagonally
• 1/2 inch of small red chilli (or more, to taste), deseeded, finely chopped
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 1/4 cup roasted peanuts, finely chopped, optional
• small bunch coriander leaves, roughly chopped
• lime wedges, to serve

Place noodles into a heat-proof bowl and cover with hot water. Stand until nearly tender - you still want a little bite to them, so that they stand up under stir-frying. Drain and rinse under cold water.Combine lemon juice, fish sauce and sugar in a jug. Heat a wok over high heat, with a little oil. Add the chicken.and stir-fry for 2 minutes until golden. Add the prawns, onions and chilli, and stir-fry for a further 2 to 3 minutes or until the prawns turn pink. Add the part-cooked noodles and stir-fry for another 2 minutes.

Add the lemon juice mixture to wok and toss to combine. Pour the beaten eggs over the noodles and stir into the noodles as they cook. Turn off the heat, add the bean sprouts and half the coriander, and toss well to combine everything together. Serve on plates topped with the remaining coriander leaves, peanuts, and lime wedges.

Mackerel with Butter Beans and Chorizo

Had a super-busy day cycling around Perth buying yet more things for the house. We needed something a bit more protein-rich than usual and this really fit the bill! Vaguely Spanish in inspiration but really, just something I threw together because I felt like all the flavours involved. Worked out really well!

Ingredients:

• 2 mackerel steaks
• a small bunch of coriander, finely chopped
• juice of half a lime
• half an inch of fresh red chilli, finely chopped
• one red pepper
• one green pepper
• one small white onion
• a small chorizo sausage
• a 340g tin of butter beans
• cooked brown rice, to serve

Set your brown rice cooking. Pop the steaks in a glass bowl and mix in the coriander, lime juice and red chilli; leave to marinade while you prepare the rest. Halve the peppers, brush lightly with olive oil and place underneath a hot grill for 15-20 minutes, until at least half of their skin has blackened. Drop into a bowl and cover with a plate, allowing them to steam in their own juices.

Finely slice the white onion into rings and the sausage into rounds. Fry together over a moderate-low heat for ten minutes, until the onion is golden and falling apart, and the sausage has taken on tinges of golden colour. Tip in the butter beans, turn off the heat, and stir together to warm through. Grill the mackerel 2-3 minutes each side, until cooked. Meanwhile, peel the skins from the peppers and tear into rough strips, adding to the butter bean mix. Serve!

Tomato Salsa

I love a fresh tomato salsa! It goes so well with spicy Mexican dishes or even just with nachos and cheese. Not that I'm allowed such things at the moment, or it would put my wedding dress fit in danger. Today it made a lovely accompaniment to some vegetarian fajitas.

Ingredients:

• 2 large tomatoes or a bag of cherry tomatoes
• small bunch of coriander
• juice of a lime
• 1/2 tsp large-flaked sea salt or chunky rock salt

If the tomatoes have thick skin, blanch them in boiling water and quickly peel the skins off. Otherwise or afterward, roughly chop and put in a bowl. Finely chop the coriander, squeeze in the lime juice and combine with the tomatoes. Just before serving, add the salt and stir briefly; the tang of unexpected salt is a lovely contrast to the tomatoes.

Quick Roast Lamb and Cauliflower Quinoa

We had some lamb rumps to eat tonight; I arrived home late after a seminar and realised I hadn't done any preparation, but that the lamb would be better-tasting today than tomorrow. I browsed the internet looking for things I could make with ingredients I had, but couldn't find anything that I wanted. Eventually I went back to the fridge, looked through and picked out things that I wanted, and that I thought would go well.

In the garden we have a mint plant which grows enormously this time of year, and it has giant, coarse leaves that you can't eat raw. I thought that would go well with some lemon, and chanced some green olives and coriander in a quick herb rub. We had potatoes last night, and I didn't have time for brown rice, so I decided to break out the quinoa - I'm always pleased when I cook it, but often forget that I have it! With some fattened raisins and some quickly stir-fried vegetables, it made a pleasing accompaniment to constrast the lemony herb rub and deep savoury lamb. A delicious, entirely improvised meal that took just half an hour to prepare.

Ingredients:

• 400g lamb rump
• a few green olives
• a small handful of mint
• a small handful of coriander
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 200g quinoa
• a small handful of raisins or sultanas
• 2 spring onions
• 5-6 cauliflower florets

Preheat the oven to 220 C. Remove any large pieces of fat from the lamb rumps, and place in a small oven-safe dish. Blitz the olives, mint, coriander, lemon juice and cumin seeds very briefly in a blender, to make a coarse rub. Scrape this over the lamb and turn the pieces in it, pressing it in and making sure they are all covered. Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes, turning once, until cooked on the outside and pink on the inside. Rest for 5 minutes before slicing into bite-sized pieces.

Meanwhile, set the quinoa cooking according to its packet instructions (I use 2:1 water:quinoa, simmer for 10 minutes then switch off and allow to absorb the remaining water). Soak the raisins in a little boiling water for 5-10 minutes until plump, then drain. Finely slice the spring onions into strips, and the cauliflower into thin slices. Stir fry in a little olive oil for 6-7 minutes, keeping on the move the whole time so that the vegetables cook through, and remove from the heat once they pick up a little colour on the edges. Combine the quinoa, vegetables and raisins, and serve the lamb on top, with any juices from the pan drizzled over.

"Thai" Beef Salad

In honour of my local, which uses the words "Authentic Thai" to qualify its Cuisine, and therefore implies neither. This is a salad I vary every time I make it, using whatever ingredients are to hand and have the right balance of flavours in my head. There are thousands of variants of this recipe on the internet; I've seen ingredients that look authentic, like bean sprouts and coriander leaf, and ingredients that look crazy, but probably aren't, like aubergine and tomato. Tonight I try the latter for the first time and I'm surprised by the result... in a good way. Oddly I don't think it would be quite right with cherry tomatoes, and its certainly a good idea not to overuse them.

For the dressing, fish sauce is absolutely key. Lime juice can just about be substituted by lemon, and while you'd miss the umami of soy sauce, you could just about use salt instead. But nothing substitutes for fish sauce - it hits all the right notes here. You can use any kind of toasted nuts; I prefer the salty ready-roasted kind for this, but toasted cashews or macadamias would be tasty too. Alternatively you can omit them and put a few tbsp of peanut butter or tahini in the dressing; it's amazing. Chillies are optional for the faint-hearted.

Ingredients:

• 1 tasty rump or sirloin steak (or 2 if you're feeling greedy)
• juice of 2 limes
• soy sauce
• a large bunch of bulky, mild greens, like English round lettuce, Chinese leaf (napa), young chard, or a very light spring cabbage, or a small cucumber, seeds removed
• a small handful of bitter greens, like rocket, radicchio or chicory, or a handful of sugarsnap peas
• a ripe red tomato, a handful of grated carrot, some beansprouts, or a few red radishes
• a small bunch of mint
• a small bunch of fresh coriander
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin sesame or rapeseed oil
• 1 red chilli
• a handful of roasted peanuts

In a very hot pan with a bare smear of vegetable oil, sear the steak on each side for 1 1/2 minutes, so it is browned on each side but still rare in the centre. Put in a bowl or some foil, and juice over one of the limes and add 2 tbsp of soy sauce. Marinade for at least an hour; ideally for 24 hours.

Roughly chop the greens, and strip the leaves from the herbs and finely chop. Slice the tomato or radishes into bite-sized pieces. Finely chop the chilli (remove the seeds if you like a milder heat) and whisk with the juice of the remaining lime, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, the fish sauce, and the oil.

Toss the salad ingredients with half of the dressing. Remove the steak from the marinade and slice against the grain as thinly as you can. Serve the salad with a portion of sliced beef and some peanuts on top, pouring over the rest of the dressing as you do so. Goes well with rice or noodles and extra soy sauce alongside. (Tonight we made coconut rice by adding a few tbsp of coconut cream, 1 tsp sugar and 1/2 tsp of salt to the rice's cooking water... yum! And the sneaky SO snapped a photo of me slicing the beef...)

Grated Asian-style Salad

This is a quick, fresh salad that works at any time of year, but is particularly useful in the slow winter and early spring months before the new wave of shoots and leaves are available. The fresh herbs are really important; don't be tempted to substitute dried herbs! Our local Asian store is brilliant for last-minute purchases.

I like to use kohlrabi but I've only found it in my local market, so it might be hard to find in supermarkets. If you have trouble locating one, you could use finely shredded white cabbage or grated cucumber instead. I've scaled this to use one medium-sized kohlrabi, since they don't keep well so I tend to grate one all at once. This should serve two people generously, if you serve with some braised mushrooms or even just some dry-roasted peanuts. Plain white rice is also great as you can mop up some of the nice salad dressing.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium kohlrabi, peeled
• 2 carrots, scrubbed or peeled
• 1 small bunch of radishes, with leaves if possible
• 1 small bunch of fresh mint
• 1 small bunch of fresh coriander
• half of a red chilli (or more if you like it hot!)
• 4 tbsp extra-virgin rapeseed or refined sunflower oil
• 1 tsp toasted sesame soil
• juice of 1-2 limes
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp soy sauce

Using a tower grater, grate the kohlrabi and carrots, holding them at an angle so that long strips are produced. Rinse the herbs if they are gritty, remove the leaves from the mint, and roughly chop. Rinse the radishes and their leaves, which tend to be very gritty. Remove the radish roots and the connection between the root and the stems. Slice the radishes into thin circles and roughly chop the leaves.

To make the dressing, finely chop the chilli, and shake with the rest of the ingredients in a jar. Taste and adjust the lime juice if needed; it should be a pleasantly sharp dressing, with a smoky umami from the fish sauce. Toss the salad ingredients thoroughly together. If you wish to keep some aside for later, do so now: it will keep undressed in an airtight container in the fridge for a day or two. When ready to serve, dress and toss thoroughly.