This salty, sweet and delightfully refreshing finger food is perfect for southern hemisphere holiday season! Choose a watermelon that’s as dark in colour as possible – it will be nice and sweet. Simply cut the watermelon into cubes, top with some creamy Danish style feta cheese and place a fresh mint leaf on top of…… Continue reading watermelon and feta bites
spaghetti with caramelised onion
This simple but delicious pasta sauce doesn’t require too many ingredients – just a bit of patience! Melt some butter and oil in a wide pan and add 1.8kg (4 lbs) of sliced brown onions. Season generously with salt and add 1-2 teaspoons of brown sugar and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Cook over medium…… Continue reading spaghetti with caramelised onion
turkey adobo
How about a Filipino twist on turkey? In the Philippines adobo is a method of cooking with vinegar which has been around since before the Spanish colonial era and was originally a way to preserve food. This amazingly flavourful cooking method is generally used with chicken or pork but these turkey thighs were delicious. Heat some vegetable…… Continue reading turkey adobo
chocolate and long pepper ice cream
I had some Malaysian long pepper (Piper longum), a spice with a similar peppery bite to black pepper but with more heat and a sweeter, earthier flavour. Inspired by a David Lebovitz recipe, I decided to combine my pepper with Jeni Britton Bauer’s dark milk chocolate ice cream from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home. The pairing…… Continue reading chocolate and long pepper ice cream
zucchini and spinach pasta
This super green pasta was an unexpected delight. I had some white zucchinis fresh from the garden and was looking for ideas when I stumbled on this recipe by Adam Liaw published in The Sydney Morning Herald’s goodfood section. I used wholemeal (BioNature) linguini – delicious! Sauté 2½ cups of baby spinach leaves in 2-3…… Continue reading zucchini and spinach pasta
vegetarian japchae
Japchae (잡채) is a Korean dish of stir-fried sweet potato glass noodles. Savoury and slightly sweet, it always has vegetables and usually meat. In this version from Seonkyoung Longest, the meat is replaced by marinated shiitake mushrooms. Just delicious! Soak 10 to 12 dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water for 20 minutes or until softened. Squeeze all the water out…… Continue reading vegetarian japchae
kimchi salmon + Korean cucumber salad
With only one pot and a few ingredients this tasty dish (from NYT Cooking recipe by Sarah DiGrigorio) is definitely a winner. Heat your oven to 205ºC (450ºF). In a pan or skillet that’s oven safe melt 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter with 1 tabelspoon of sesame oil over high heat. Wait until the butter…… Continue reading kimchi salmon + Korean cucumber salad
apple cake
Mary made this Italian country style cake from a Ray McVinnie recipe. It’s a batter cake chock full of apples. Preheat your oven to 180°C (350ºF) and grease and line a 23cm (9″) springform cake tin with baking paper. Beat 100g (3½ oz) of softened butter with 100g (3½ oz) of caster sugar until pale…… Continue reading apple cake
smoky eggplant ragu
You won’t miss the meat in this deliciously smoky and rich Italian sauce with walnuts added for texture. I served mine with ricotta gnocchi but any pasta or gnocchi will work. Use one large eggplant (aubergine). To get that smoky flavour, prick the skin a few times and blacken all over, either on a barbecue…… Continue reading smoky eggplant ragu
brown rice salad
This brown rice, pea and cucumber salad has a delicious lemony dressing and plenty of fresh mint. Good for you too! Cook 1½ cups of brown rice in a saucepan of boiling salted water until tender. Drain and rinse under cold running water then leave to drain while you prepare the other ingredients. In a…… Continue reading brown rice salad
michelle picker cooks 