Category: Mains
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Bar Idda’s Purpetti Dolce (Sicilian Meatballs)
If you like in Melbourne and make some time to visit Bar Idda in Brunswick for gorgeous Sicilian inspired fare. The food is to die for! Here’s a recipe they they give away their secrets to. I’m not really much of a meatball eater, but these are something else..
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Karen’s Black Pepper, Walnut and Cumin-stuffed Chicken roasted with Pumpkin
Karen, Karen, Karen. She never fails me and I love her. Another winner flavour combo and simple to make. I mean, you’ve gotta love a roast on a Sunday night, shove it in the oven and wait. But this, with the walnut pesto and enough butter to please Julia Childs stuffed under the skin, is…
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Poh’s Hainanese Chicken Rice
Well, it’s been a long while between posts… Somewhere along the way I got a bit distracted with other things, but we’re still cookin’ here, so it’s about time I put up some of the dishes we’ve been tucking into of late. This first one is simply put, Asian comfort food. Hainanese chicken rice is a…
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Uncle Chris’ Scallop Potatoes with Salmon
I made scallop potatoes as a side to Mum’s roast chicken a few weeks ago. The recipe I followed was really more like a dauphinoise potatoes, very rich, very yum. My brother Chris said that scallop potatoes is one of his go-to dishes for the kids, but that he adds a tin of red salmon…
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Karen’s 20-Clove Pot Roasted Chicken with Celeriac, Potato, Cinnamon and Lemon
How good are pot roasts? It seems like such a retro dish, but those 70’s mums had it right all along. They’re so yummy and moist and dead simple to whip up for Sunday night dinner. This recipe uses celeriac, which is my veg of the moment. It has to be one of the less…
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Wild Mushroom Risotto
It was Pete’s birthday on the weekend, so a good opportunity to whip up an old fave, which is perfect this time of year. I guess any dish calling for this much butter and parmesan is sure to be a winner.. So, it’s a little decadent but oh so wintery warming and packed full of…
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Simple Ham and Ricotta Lasagne
Yum, yum, yum. I made this last weekend and it did us for two nights which is always great. Using ham rather than bolognese and ricotta rather than bechamel, such simple prep and ingredients making it a quick and easy version of a favourite. This will be a winner with the kiddos.
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Best Ever Minestrone
This classic soup is a great big bowl of warming comfort in the cooler months. I’ve had some pretty ordinary thin and overly tomatoey minestrones in my time, but this is something else. Bursting with delicious veg, not too over-cooked and soggy. The secret ingredient of the cheese rind does something amazing, so do not leave it…
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Beetroot Risotto with Goats Cheese
Making the most of the gorgeous beetroots this season, I whipped this up last week. The risotto turns the most gorgeous bright pink hue once you add the beetroot in.
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Pasta with Creamy Leek, Pancetta and Mushroom Sauce
There’s nothing like the smell of pancetta crisping up in a pan… This is not the healthiest meal, but I guarantee it will win you friends.
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Ricotta Dumplings with Tomato Sugo
This is another Silvia Colloca gem not to be confused with my favourite Ricotta and Parmesan Dumplings, which are more like gnocchi. These are apparently called gnudi and are a bit lighter again.
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Japanese Pancakes (Okonomiyaki)
You know how no matter how small a piece of cabbage you buy, you’ve always got way too much left over? A little bit of cabbage goes a long way.. This is a great way to use it up and a dead easy Friday night dinner that you can hide heaps of veg in for the kids.…
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Silverbeet, Ricotta and Sopressata Tart (Pizza Rustica)
I thought calling this pizza was a bit far fetched really, but apparently the word ‘pizza’ actually means ‘pie’, so that makes a bit more sense..
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Asian Style Ribs
How good are ribs? I confess I’m a late-comer to this sticky world but I’m glad I’ve now arrived. They’re not something I’ve cooked often and I never order them out cause they leave me feeling like I’ve got a big saucy face and in bad need of a toothpick.
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Chicken, Sausage and Pumpkin Bake
What a cool few weeks we’ve been having. Very unusual for mid-summer Melbs, but in some ways a nice break from the scorching heat and an opportunity to turn the oven back on and cook up some warming fare. As any one who I’ve caught up with lately knows, I’m having a bit of an affair…
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Crispy Skinned Salmon on Red Curry Coconut Spinach
I used to make this dish years ago when I wanted something quick, easy and impressive for dinner guests. I don’t normally go for fish in curries, but this is a worthwhile exception. The buttery soft salmon holds its own in the spicy sauce and looks so good on the plate on a bed of spinach.
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Baked Cannelloni with Spinach, Ricotta, Feta and Bocconcini
We recently had a little holiday at the beach and had a night off to go out for dinner, just Pete and me. We went to a local Italian, very simple but lovely homemade fare. I had cannelloni, which was absolutely delish. Interestingly, instead of pasta, they used crepes, which I’d never seen before. Anyhoo, it…
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Pork Loin roasted with Black Pepper and Cinnamon
This is a great way to serve pork, my favourite meat. If you’d asked me whether the combination of pork and cinnamon would work, I don’t think I would have jumped at the idea, but the flavours seem to be a match made in heaven. Of course, you just can’t go wrong with plenty of pepper…
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Pasta Bake with Pork Ragu and Parmesan Cream
This recipe is a tasty version of a bolognese pasta bake with a few differences – pancetta and good quality sausage meat rather than mince meat, and a cheat’s white sauce (no mucking around with roux and bechamel here!).
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Leftover Turkey Pasta
A face only a mother could love… It’s the same post-Christmas each year – a heap of leftover ham, turkey, cranberry sauce, etc etc. Great if you want to avoid cooking for a few days, or if you’re up for it, turn it into something else. Today I borrowed some ideas from a gnocchi recipe in…
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Roast Lamb with Whipped Feta and Mustard Dressing and Parsley and Red Onion Salad
A bit of a mouthful of a title.. However, this is a great dish to spice up the usual lamb roast for summertime. The dressing is delectable and the salad, refreshing and light. The sumac adds a lovely lemony flavour and mixed with the fresh lemon is delicious.
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Rotelle with Prosciutto, Sour Cream and Chives
This is a tasty little pasta salad which has flown out the door the times I’ve made it. It will go great with any grilled meats, and so it’s a great side for a barbie, perhaps in place of potato salad.
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Pork Fillet with Honey and Ginger
Pork has to be my all time favourite meat. It’s so often overlooked (or over cooked!) but if you buy good quality cuts, it is so sweet and tender, soaks up flavour really well and is cheap as chips compared to red meat. This is a really simple one-pot-wonder dish I’ve made for dinner parties…
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Spiced Chicken Tortillas
Karen Martini produces some of my all time favourite recipes. Her flavour combinations are always spot on and almost without fail simple to put together. I only made this Mexican inspired recipe for the first time a few weeks ago.
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Ricotta and Parmesan Dumplings with Tomato and Basil Sauce
I never got the hang of potato gnocchi. The couple of times I’ve made it, it’s turned out heavy and tough. I think it’s a case of too much flour, anyway, I gave it away for this lighter, simpler ricotta version (taken from the Two Greedy Italians), which I’ve made many times.
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Fish with Garlic, Lemon and Tomatoes
When I first started dating Pete, I remember he couldn’t recognise the flavour of garlic in food. We’d be eating something laden with garlic and I’d say “gosh, this is garlicky” and he’d look at my quizzically. With a Greek background, garlic was so prevalent in his diet, that he actually didn’t know what it…
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Israeli Cutlets (Schnitzel)
In keeping with the Israeli theme and something to go perfectly with the Israeli salad, this spiced up schnitzel recipe from The Nosher gives new life to an old favourite. I use chicken but the recipe suggests turkey breast, which you don’t see often here in Oz, but which could be rather festive this time…
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Bang Bang Chicken
Ignore the image (if you can)… This is a great easy summer dinner which takes poached chicken salad to a whole new level. The recipe I use is from SBS Food, but there are more than a few different versions out there. I remember reading that this is a traditional Chinese street food snack
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Ants Climbing Trees
This dish probably rates the highest on our family repeats list, it’s so simple and tasty. The name comes from the cooked pieces of pork mince looking like ants climbing the noodle ‘branches’. This is a Jill Dupleix recipe, but you’ll find a heap of different versions on the net.
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Christmas Eve Tuna Melts
This has become a bit of a family tradition in recent years. Something to kick off the rich food fest that is Christmas and easy to boot.