This blast for the past kitchen is the type I associate with shepherd’s pie, also a blast from the past! Is it the same for you? Or do you think of a different era? The kitchen/dining room I grew up…
easy dinner
Red Wine Beef Onion Stew
Confession: I feel quite pleased with myself when I see containers of stews and soups lined up in the freezer. It’s my “acts of service” love language, looking after the people I love, making sure there’s always something that can…
Super-Versatile Salmon Tray Bake
What did the fish say to his fiancee? I need salmon like you. This is my adaptation of the Jamie Oliver salmon tray bake recipe I found in his first cookbook The Naked Chef. I can’t find a link to…
Quick Pasta Bolognese Sauce
I find it amusing that spaghetti bolognese doesn’t exist in Italy. An authentic Bolognese sauce is a slow-cooked ragu with vegetables and a mix of meats. It is used primarily for lasagne or with tagliatelle. (Thinner noodles, like spaghetti, are…
Pork Chipolata Sausage Tray Bake w/ Salsa Cheat
Imagine: the smiling home chef, wearing floral oven mitts bought for a song, serving a steaming tray bake straight from oven to table, where eager diners serve themselves until they’re stuffed full. I LOVE this concept. Simple, cost-effective, minimum effort….
5-Ingredient Pork and Mash with Green Apple
I cook the pork and mash this way, using only two pans, to enable a single or small-portion meal in minimal time. It’s called being L.A.Z.Y. 😂 Five ingredient pork and mash with apple is the kind of dish I…
Chicken Stoop (Stew/Soup) with Currants & Almonds
Imagine. A spoon in one hand. The TV remote in the other. A steaming bowl of goodness in front of you. This is the beauty of this Sunday night favourite. It’s delicate, light and subtle, but supremely hearty, and is…
Laid-Back Chicken and Pea Risotto
This is the dish to cook when people are milling in the kitchen, the TV is on in the background, and someone has been thoughtful enough to open a nice bottle of sauvignon blanc. A lot of the cooking shows…
Back to the Future Tuna Mornay
Bell bottoms, beads, The Beatles, back to the future tuna mornay! Actually, creamy tuna mornay (tuna casserole in the US) dates back even further than the sixties. A version was around before WWII, but it came into its own afterwards,…
What Happens in Vegas Tomato (Napoli) Sauce
YEARS ago, I saw TV domestic goddess Nigella Lawson say to use sugar in all tomato dishes to balance out the acidity. It’s definitely NOT traditional to use sugar in a tomato Napoli sauce. But as far as I’m concerned,…
Weeknight Chicken Stir-Fry For When You Can’t Be Bothered
Ugh, you only have one carrot, a capsicum and some lonely looking snow peas in the crisper. Here is your stir fry. I always have soy sauce and oyster sauce on hand, as well as some kind of noodle, and…
Spur-of-the-Moment Frittata
I present to you frittata … the thin-crust pizza of the egg world! Literally, for when you think, “I should make something. And best it be nutritious. And a judicious use of ingredients!” This frittata recipe been around the block…
