PIKELETS – an Aussie favourite! It wasn’t until I was in my 20’s that I learned that pikelets are actually a very Aussie thing. I grew up thinking that kids all over the world were snacking on pikelets and begging their mums to make them for breakfast. But actually, while they are well known in Australia and New Zealand (and apparently in Scotland???), the rest of the world is sadly deprived of pikelets....

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....

“I don’t know whether people will think this is wacky or clever or just weirdly lazy.” This is the way I’ve been making chicken pot pie for midweek meals for as long as I can remember. It’s a “free form” pie, which means you bake the pastry separately from the filling, then to serve, you just pop it on top of the filling. The reality is, whenever I make a large pie to share and dish it onto plates, the pastry becomes a crumbled mess and the filling oozes out everywhere....

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....

Welcome to Day 11 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!! Today, something quick and easy for when asparagus is abundant and cheap: Roasted Asparagus Roasting is an excellent way to make any cook-able vegetable tastier with very little effort. All you need is a drizzle of oil, salt and pepper, then enough time in the oven so the vegetable cooks through to your taste (tender-crisp is the case for me, most of the time), and gets a bit of colour on it....

After more lamb leg ideas? Browse all my roast lamb recipes! Slow Cooker Roast Lamb Leg In my world, there are only 2 ways to cook a leg of lamb: either perfectly cooked so it’s pink and juicy inside (see my classic Roast Lamb with Gravy), or long and slow so it’s fall apart tender. There is no in between! Well, there is. But it’s dry and no amount of gravy can salvage it....

A THAI CHICKEN SALAD WITH BIG FLAVOURS! Yowzer! This is about as far as you can get from bland, boring salads. I’m a huge fan of Asian salads because they are typically much lighter and fresher than many Western ones, and the dressings pack a great flavour punch. And this one is no exception. It’s a chilli-lime Thai dressing that has that South East Asian signature sweet-salty-tangy balance with a little buzz of heat from chilli....

Easy enough for midweek meals, and a sensational CHEAP meal idea for large groups! Either cook the chicken in large batches on the BBQ, or even bake them, and put out all the toppings in bowls for people to help themselves! Vietnamese Noodles with Lemongrass Chicken This is a recipe that has many fond memories associated with it because it’s one of my signature recipes that I make as a meal for large groups....

This dish is a modern classic ideal for serving as canapés or an elegant starter, or just having around in the fridge so you can shave slices off to nibble. Lasts for days and days! Too many cured salmon recipes are way too salty or way too sweet! But once you know the right proportions, it’s ridiculously simple to make and far cheaper than buying from gourmet stores. Beetroot-cured Salmon Are you ready to impress the pants off your family and friends?...

This Chicken and Spinach Strata is a great end of week meal. Or a great start of week meal to use up leftovers from the week before! The only ingredients in this recipe you actually need to have are egg, milk and bread (stale is fine!). Everything else is optional or use what you have. No cheese? No problem. Just up the salt a bit to make up for it....

NO CHILL time, make them soft OR crispy. Ice them my EASY way, dip in chocolate, dust with icing sugar or serve them plain! Christmas Cookies What I call “Christmas Cookies” are simply vanilla biscuits cut out in Christmas shapes and iced with colourful festive frosting. They taste like shortbread cookies, but not quite as buttery or crumbly. They are as classic as vanilla biscuits can be. This particular biscuit recipe is made for cutting out shapes – in this case, Christmas shapes....

Cauliflower Soup I am very aware that there is a serious lack of vegetables / salads / meat free / cheese free / carb free food on my blog. I always have good intentions of blogging more vegetable focussed things but I tend to get distracted by…well…you know. Anything but salads. So I always feel like giving myself a pat on the back when I post a meat-free-almost-dairy-free-cheese-free dish! I love this soup....

Serve it as is, or use it as a base for your own add-ins. Try tossing through some shredded leftover Roast Chicken or Poached Chicken, or adding a handful of spinach. Creamy tomato sauce for pasta Is it pink? Or orange? It doesn’t sound nearly as fun to chat to you about an orange pasta sauce. I’m sticking with pink. Pink tomato cream sauce! “This pasta with tomato cream sauce is a less guilty way to get your creamy pasta fix!...

This recipe is based on the Couscous with Tomato and Onion from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem cookbook which I am obsessed with. It has so many ideas for new ways to prepare fresh and simple food, with a heavy emphasis on vegetarian recipes. I altered the recipe to remove the butter and reduce the amount of oil generally, as well as reducing the amount of water used to prepare the couscous to make the couscous less soggy once cooked (as it continues to cook and absorb liquid when in the stove)....

Bonus: Super healthy fish recipe, clocking in at at just 260 calories per serving! EASY Fish recipe! I love a good crispy Pan Fried Fish, and sure it only takes 7 minutes to make but we all have those days when we just can’t deal with flour dusting and stove-top oil splatter. Right?? So this Parmesan Crusted Fish is a recipe that I came up with in my former corporate days....

Fennel Salad Fennel is so refreshing, I love it raw. Shaving it is a great way to use it in salads because it really tones down the aniseed flavour that many people find off-putting about fennel. In fact, I’ve served shaved fennel salads to quite a few people who aren’t a fan of fennel and they all loved it! This fennel salad is a classic combination of flavours that’s an outright copy of salads I’ve had at fine dining restaurants and good bistros....

Bonus: they happen to be HEALTHY 💪🏼 Fish Tacos A bad fish taco is worse than a bad chicken taco. And while most people would be turned off after multiple dismal experiences, I persevered, believing there to be better. I mean, tacos. They have always been one of my favourite foods, ever since the first time I tried them. And I’m thankful I didn’t give up. Because it just got better and better....

BIGGEST TIP – ignore the packet directions, DO NOT use the absorption method. And make this Brown Rice Salad! How to cook brown rice (perfectly) This is a recipe for how to cook brown rice so it’s fluffy and tumbles out of the pot like THIS ↓↓ White rice | Jasmine | Basmati | Sushi rice | Risotto (easy way!) | Paella | Quinoa | Cauliflower rice The challenge with cooking brown rice is that it has a harder hull than white rice, being the nutritious bran layer than is left on during milling....

Bonus: This classic homemade Italian Dressing recipe keeps for 2 weeks so make a big batch! Fabulous with leafy greens, steamed, chopped and roasted vegetables. I am addicted to Italian Dressing. I never thought Italian Dressing was anything special in my younger days. That was before I discovered an Italian Dressing recipe with parmesan in it (can’t remember where, think it was one of those recipe websites). Tried it once and I was converted....

Lo Mein Noodles The actual noodles pictured above were my dinner last night, albeit I was a little heavy handed with a big dollop of chilli sauce that had me gasping and sweating (and swearing) through every bite. Don’t fear, it was self inflicted torture. Those red strips you see are capsicum / bell peppers, not chilli. There is no sign of chilli in this recipe – Lo Mein is not spicy!...