Breakfast: Turkish Eggs

You might have heard me harp on about breakfasts before, and how I have only recently become acquainted with them. But now it has become a weekend pastime of mine to head up to the shops or the market to collect some delicious food for a decadent weekend brekkie.

On this morning I felt like recreating the delicious Turkish Eggs I always order at Queenies; my local cafe. So I went and collected:

• Greek yogurt
• A fresh loaf of bread (I used sourdough, but you can use anything really - try Turkish pide!)
• Fresh free-range eggs
• Avocado
• Lemon
• Chilli powder

Already it sounds like a strange combination - eggs and yoghurt? I hear you. But trust me, the sharp yoghurt and lemon cut through the rich egg and avocado, leaving you with a glorious mess to dunk your toast into.

The recipe is simple: add a generous dollop of yoghurt to your serving bowl and top with two poached eggs (hint: check out my blog post on poaching eggs). Place a few slices of avocado in the bowl,a squeeze of lemon juice and a generous sprinkle of chilli powder and sea salt on top. Last of all, toast slices of bread until golden, lather with butter and dunk into your eggs.

If you're ready to break the mould of bacon and fried eggs on the weekend then give this recipe a go. It's certainly not your usual eggs on toast but it's one of my favourites, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it too.

P.S. Keep an eye out for my next blog post for the perfect weekday breakfast!

Vietnamese Pork Spring Rolls

In need of a fresh, vibrant dish to match the beautiful weekend, I decided to whip up some Vietnamese Pork Spring Rolls for Sunday lunch. This is an incredibly cost effective meal for a larger group, and when you get everyone involved in wrapping the spring rolls it ends up being quick, easy, and a whole lot of fun (mostly when laughing at the failed rolls *ahem Suzie*).

Ingredients (serves 3)

1 packet Vietnamese rice paper rolls

Vegetables
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced
Crisp lettuce
Coriander leaves

Pork filling
500 grams pork mince
1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce
1 teaspoon minced ginger
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon fish sauce

Dipping sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup simple syrup (even quantities of sugar and water)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
Fresh or dried chilli, chopped
Small handful of fresh coriander and mint, chopped

Firstly to cook the pork filling heat a splash of oil (preferably peanut oil) in a pan, and add the garlic and ginger. Stir for a minute, then add the pork mince. Quickly brown the mince, and add the sweet chilli and fish sauce to taste. Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat until the pork is fully cooked.

Leave the pork to cool slightly as you prepare the sauce. To do so, mix all dipping sauce ingredients in a bowl to serve, and garnish with extra herbs or chilli.

To make the rolls, soak one rice paper in water for about 30-45 seconds until slightly soft. Spoon a small amount of the pork, along with some of your vegetables into the centre of the roll. Fold tightly, tucking the edges under as you go, to make a fully sealed roll.

If you're serving this dish at a party you'd want to prepare the rolls in advance, but if you're as disorganised as me and throwing this together for a quick lunch or dinner, you can enlist the help of your diners to make their own rolls as they go. It encourages slow eating and increased laughing.

Karaage Chicken

Karaage Chicken is better than sushi.

OK, a high claim, but those of you who have tried Karaage chicken will know that a good one is hard to beat. It is a Japanese fried chicken that knocks the socks of any KFC you've ever tried (and yes, sushi too).

I'm sure my recipe isn't completely authentic, but it tastes awesome, so here you go.

Karaage Chicken (serves 2)

• 4 boneless/skinless free range chicken thighs
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon ginger, minced
• 1 teaspoon Sriacha hot sauce (or finely chopped chilli)

Chop each chicken thigh into 4 strips.
Mix soy, garlic, ginger and Sriacha to form the marinade.
Mix with chicken and marinate for at least two hours.

• 1 cup cornflour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 750ml canola oil

Mix together cornflour and salt, and coat chicken pieces thoroughly.
Heat oil in a wok or pot until it just reaches smoking point, and carefully lower batches of the floured chicken in (about 4-5 strips at a time).
Cook chicken for about 3 minutes on each side, until crisp and golden.

Once she's ready sprinkle with sesame seeds, and serve with lemon wedges and Kewpie Japanese mayonnaise (the BEST)

Karaage is great served with slaw, or a crunchy green salad with sesame dressing. Or you can be extra naughty and load it all into a roll or a burger like I did...

Breakfast: Stewed Plums on Muesli

Breakfast and I have a funny relationship. We didn't get along until I was about 20 years old, but now I can't cope without it. Whether it's sliced tomato with a dash of hot sauce on toast, a decadent eggs benedict, or just simple muesli, it's now one of my favourite parts of the day (after lunch and dinner of course).

My new breakfast of choice is stewed plums on muesli- I know this is not the most challenging recipe (it would probably give two minute noodles a run for it's money)- but hey, it tastes AWESOME.

Stewed Plums (4 servings)

• 12 Plums 
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons soft brown sugar (or more if don't like it too tart)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cut the plums in half, remove the stone, and place in a saucepan with the remaining ingredients.

Cook over a medium/low heat for about 10 minutes, or until soft.

See, told you it was easy.

I served my plums over a simple bircher muesli (oats/dry muesli soaked in milk), topped with natural yoghurt and a sprinkle of almonds. You can even pre-make the whole thing the night before so it's ready for you to gobble down in the morning. Yum!

P.S. These plums are also amazing on a big bowl of vanilla ice-cream ... (but you didn't hear it from me)

Prawn Rolls

After our delicious meal at Golden Dawn, Alice and I couldn't get those prawn rolls out of our heads. So, when it was time to throw a dish together for our Christmas lunch, I knew exactly what I was going to (try to) make.

The girls had cheese and crackers at the ready, Pimm's on the go, and a big fat ham in the oven. I showed up late, and in a fluster, but luckily I had a trick up my sleeve; I prepped the filling for the prawn rolls in advance and the rest took only a few minutes to put together.

Prawn Rolls (makes 12)

• 500 grams cooked prawn or shrimp
• 1 fresh chilli, finely sliced (red or green)
• 1/4 cup red onion, diced
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 2/3 cup Japanese mayonnaise 
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce (Sriracha is ideal)
• 3 tablespoons coconut milk
• 1/2 cup celery, diced
• A handful of coriander, roughly chopped
• 12 par-baked dinner rolls

Mix everything (except the dinner rolls, silly) in a bowl, and chill in the fridge until needed.

Bake the dinner rolls according to the instructions (usually about 5 minutes), slice open, spoon in filling, garnish with more sliced chilli or coriander leaves, and serve while the rolls are still warm.

So easy! It might seem like a bit of an odd recipe, but think of it as a lobster roll/prawn cocktail/ceviche hybrid. I promise it's tasty, and will go down a treat when you next have to whip up a party dish.

Pork and Fennel Meatballs

Feeling a little inspired after my meatball bonanza at Baduzzi, I wanted to cook up one of my favourite dishes: pork and fennel meatballs. I know meatballs might seem like a rich, wintery dish- but they don't have to be. Serve up your meatballs with zucchini ribbons, or on a bed of rocket to make it into a perfectly easy summer dinner.

This recipe is a winner, and for a while I made it pretty much every week. Now I have gotten the girls at work onto it too, and they all agree that it's a keeper.

Pork and Fennel Meatballs (adapted from a Jamie Oliver member recipe)

approx. 450 grams pork mice
2-3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cracked pepper

Mix all above ingredients (excluding the pork) in a mortar and pestle, to form a rough, dry, paste. In a bowl, gently combine with the pork to mix through.

Roll small handfuls of the mixture into balls, about the size of a large walnut.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups white wine
1/2 brown onion, diced
1 clove garlic, chopped
400g tin of chopped tomatoes

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan, and brown meatballs all over (do not cook through).
Remove the meatballs, and add the remaining olive oil, garlic and onions. Cook gently until soft, and beginning to colour.

Add the wine, and cook for 5 minutes of so, to de-glaze the pan and reduce the alcohol.

Add the tomatoes and the meatballs, and cook on a gentle simmer for about 10 minutes, until the sauce has reduced.

Meatballs traditionally are served with pasta, but if you're looking for a lighter option (summer's a -coming!), then they are also great served on blanched zucchini ribbons, which are easy enough to make with a grater or mandolin.

Garnish with some parsley, fresh fennel fronds (if you have them), and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
Go on, give it a go. I promise they are good!

Summer BBQ - Recipe

After recently moving into a new house we invited some friends around for a BBQ on Saturday afternoon. While the boys went and bought a big pile of pre-cooked sausages and a ready-made salad, I decided the girls and I could do slightly better...

But first things first, we started off with some cocktails made up with gin, lime, cucumber, mint and ginger beer. This is a fantastic and refreshing cocktail that is dangerously easy to drink.

After a few drinks in the sun (note the sunburn lines), we were ready to cook up some Argentinian inspired BBQ food. First up I made some flatbreads using Jamie Oliver's recipe for Navajo Flatbead. As far as bread goes, this recipe is super easy; no yeast, no rising, and not a lot of technique to be honest! But they are very delicious, especially when cooked on a BBQ.

Next up was the salsa verde, the perfect accompaniment to this dish.

Salsa Verde

• A few handfuls of flat leaf parsley
• A couple of mint sprigs
• 1 small garlic clove
• 1 teaspoon capers
• 1 anchovy fillet (or half of one if you're not so keen on them)
• A few good glugs of olive oil, or as much as needed

Either put all of the above ingredients in a food processor, and drizzle in olive oil until it reaches the desired consistency (like pesto), or chop everything up with a small amount of olive oil until very fine, then add to your serving dish with the remaining oil.

For the steak, I used rump, which I gave a little punch up to tenderise. However, for this kind of dish I would actually usually use a cut like skirt or hanger steak- a little tougher, but when tenderised, cooked to rare, then sliced up, it is very delicious. 

Either way, make sure you punch down the steak to tenderise, season very well, then cook on a smoking hot BBQ or stove for only a few minutes on each side. Leave to rest for about 5 minutes, and slice up to serve.

I like putting a dollop of salsa verde on a flatbread, along with a few slices of steak, to make little wraps. That, washed down with a beer or a cocktail in the warm summer sun and you have your afternoon BBQ sorted.