I only wish I had the foresight to take a photo when I was making the Satay Chicken with Peanut Sauce and it went drastically wrong. In preparation for sharing that recipe, I tested out a few of my favourite peanut sauce recipes, trying to decide which to share. One of the recipes called for simmering the sauce before pureeing it. I FORGOT that pureeing hot liquid = disaster. Do you know what happens when you do this?...

This broccoli recipe is a lighter version of classic Broccoli Salad with a creamy dressing. Try this on the side of Baked Pork Chops, sticky Baked Chicken Thighs, marinated beef Steaks or crispy Pan Fried Fish with Lemon Butter Sauce! Broccoli Salad I’m keeping this post short and sweet because it’s an extra recipe, a side dish for these Oven Baked Pork Chops I also shared today. 🙂 When you think of creamy salad dressings, you automatically think of mayonnaise....

Cauliflower Cheese A really great Cauliflower Cheese recipe has been on my radar ever since I experienced a great example at a well-known steakhouse in Sydney some years ago! There’s plenty of recipes out there that tell you to just boil up some cauliflower, cover it in a béchamel sauce, throw in some cheese, and bake it. While that’s totally fine, you do end up with that distinctly sulphurous, boiled cauliflower flavour (not my favourite taste in the world) and run the risk of patches of watery sauce....

Cheesy Zucchini Bread I want to tell you that this is a special recipe I made for Australia Day, which is today, Friday 26th January 2018. Being that as I started writing this post, it dawned on me that this Cheesy Zucchini Bread is green and gold which are our national colours. But alas, I must confess, it is by sheer co-incidence that I happen to be sharing a green and gold recipe on Australia Day....

Just a great Corn Salad This is a very typical salad I make with corn. Especially when corn is in season – I absolutely love making this with freshly cooked ears of corn. Having said that though, I make this quite often with canned corn too. For both convenience and also when corn isn’t in season – though actually, here in Australia, corn is pretty good value most of the year round....

This is a cookbook exclusive recipe! This recipe is exclusive to my debut cookbook Dinner which includes a how-to video for every recipe. Just scan the QR code! Just to explain…. I know, it’s confusing! You’re so used to getting recipes on my website – there’s over 1,200 of them, after all. And here you are looking at a tasty recipe video and I haven’t provided the recipe. 🙀 I’m not just doing this to torture you, I promise....

NO CANNED SOUP!!! How to make Chicken Rice Casserole – my Emergency way! This is a dump-and-bake rice casserole that’s made from scratch. And anyone who knows anything about cooking will (rightfully!) raise their eyebrows when they see how this emergency version of Chicken Rice Casserole is made: Dump UNCOOKED RICE in pan Sprinkle with flour and seasonings Mix with liquids (broth and milk) Top with RAW chicken and RAW broccoli Bake Stir in cheese, melt cheese, serve....

Welcome to Day 13 of the inaugural Holiday Salad Marathon, where I’m sharing 30 salads in a row through to Christmas Eve – just for something different to the usual sugar-loaded baking countdowns!! Off the back of last weeks’ French(ish) Tomato Salad with Olive Tapenade, I have another French one for you: French Bistro Salad Hearty French bistro classics like steak frites, boeuf bourguignon, French Onion Soup, Quiche Lorraine and Coq au Vin need a light and clean salad on the side to cleanse and refresh the palate … so that you can eat more!...

Spectacular with cheeses and spreads, and for gifting! Stop press!!! Big news – DOZER HAS A BUTTON!! ↑↑↑ For all Dozer lovers out there who just want to skip straight to Dozer and see what cheeky antics he’s up to today, just click on the Dozer button and it will take you straight down to him, then you can come back and read the post!!! Oh – there is a button to jump to the Recipe too, which I’ve had for a while now, and I also added a button to jump straight down to the Video....

I feel like curry fanatics outside of India are familiar with well known Indian favourites like Butter Chicken, Tikka Masala, Goan Fish Curry and Biryani, but aren’t so familiar with Indian sides. Given that I’ve embarked on a bit of an Indian curry mission, I’m going to share a handful of quick and easy vegetable sides for curries – starting with this Indian Salad with Tomato and Mint Dressing. Refreshing is the key here....

Margaritas If, like me, it makes you ill thinking how much you’ve spent on cocktails in your lifetime, it’s time to get onto the band wagon of making margaritas at home! Ridiculously easy, it’s a party starter that’s fresh and zingy with just enough sweet, and certainly with a good kick of alcohol that’s going to get you buzzing in no time! What goes in Margaritas Here’s what you need – it’s easy as 1-2-3: (With “parts” being anything from a shot glass, a tablespoon, a mug or a bottle – just use the same measuring vehicle for each ingredient!...

This was an accidental discovery. Sometimes it amazes me that I go to the grocery store almost every day and yet when I start making dinner, I’m missing a crucial ingredient. Like spaghetti for spaghetti bolognaise. Seriously. Who doesn’t have dried spaghetti in the pantry at all times? I know, I’m weird. I think it’s the Japanese blood in my veins. I always have rice. But I don’t always have pasta....

Pasta alla norma: Eggplant pasta When it comes to vegetables-as-the-main, eggplant rates very highly in my books because it’s meaty and easy to prepare. It’s a sponge for flavour, silky and delicious in texture, good value most of the year round and extremely versatile. This pasta is Sicilian, and as with many traditional Italian eggplant dishes, the slices are traditionally fried in a hefty amount of oil. I prefer roasting the eggplant – it’s healthier, plus the eggplant cubes hold their shape better rather than turning into unidentifiable mush when tossed in the pasta sauce!...

Pasta Primavera Today’s recipe is a big, wholesome vegetable fix disguised in the form of a creamy pasta. So you can pitch it to your clan as a decadent creamy pasta for dinner but know that there’s also a good hit of nutritious vegetables in it too. Life is all about balance, after all! Primavera means “spring” in Italian, and this meatless dish is all about celebrating the best green bounty the season offers up....

Served with a homemade gravy for pork, this is The Roast Recipe I pull out that’s a guaranteed hit, always. The perfect Pork Roast This perfect Pork Roast has: Slow-cooked, tender, juicy, flavour-infused flesh;Super-crispy, bubbly pork crackling all over – no rubbery or chewy patches at all; andServed with it an incredible homemade gravy made with the pan drippings. It’s made without fussing with blow dryers, boiling hot water, or leaving the pork to air dry in the fridge overnight....

A terrific almost no-cook meal option or a great summer salad for a crowd. This is also how I make prawns (shrimp) stretch further! Summer Salad – Prawns, Mango and Avocado! I’m a bit fussy when it comes to fruit in meals. I never got on board the pork with apple thing. I’m not really a big fan of fruity sauces with roasts unless it errs more towards savoury or tart than sweet....

Beef Stroganoff You know that anything that involving the words “slow cooked” and “beef” is going to be a winner. And this one is a ripper! It’s the slow cooked version of classic Beef Stroganoff. Besides the fact that it takes 8 hours in a slow cooker instead of 15 minutes on the stove, this stew version of Stroganoff differs from the traditional version in a few ways: Fall apart tender chunks of beef rather than thin strips that are just cooked so they’re juicy inside;Made with economical stewing beef rather than good to high quality well marbled steak (essential for a really great traditional Beef Stroganoff); andDeeper flavour in the sauce – owing to the long cook time....

It’s Super Bowl Sunday this weekend. Just the biggest game day in America in the entire year. To put this into perspective for Australians, it’s like our equivalent of the Melbourne Cup. You know how we call that the “race that stops the nation”? And it literally does – I was once on the M5 and traffic almost came to a standstill for the 3 minutes the race was on....

Top tip? Pull the beef out before the target internal temperature as the meat continues to cook as it rests, taking medium rare beef to medium. Otherwise, it overcooks while resting! Standing Rib Roast – don’t make this mistake! The biggest mistake people make with prime rib is not factoring in that beef continues to cook as it rests. So if you pull it out of the oven at 52°C / 125°F, the target temperature for medium rare, it will rise to 55°C / 130°F or more once rested which is medium....

Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs These Teriyaki Meatballs are a total crowd pleaser. The sauce for this recipe is based on my mother’s real-deal Teriyaki Chicken recipe (you will be surprised how easy it is – less than 15 minutes start to finish, NO marinating!). All I did was add cornflour / cornstarch as thickener and water to thin it out to make it more saucy. My mother is a bit of a food snob when it comes to western twists on Japanese classics....