5 Minute Food Fix

521 episodes into this podcast and Simon Davis finally unveils his deep and passionate obsession with Puy Lentils.

In the following episode, you'll start by making a sofritto with onion, carrot and celery, fried down carefully for about 20 minutes. A small bag of unsoaked puy lentils will then go in and be plumped out with water and cook time. Add in a stock cube and some lemon.

THIS IS YOUR BASE.

Then to it you can add all kinds of inspiration:

More lemon juice

Crumbled fetta

Salad leaves and a fresh dice of red capsicum

Smoked paprika

Serve with your main and love yourself smug!

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Yumi is excited to be talking about crepes even though there are some ethical issues...which you shall hear about if you listen to today's episode!

IDIOT-PROOF CREPES

1 cup of plain flour

1 cup of milk

1/2 cup water

4 eggs

4tbs melted butter

1-2tbs caster sugar

pinch salt

3tbs milk powder

1tsp vanilla (optional)

Blend everything together then rest the mixture overnight in the fridge.

When you're ready...

Pour a quarter cup of the batter onto your crepe pan.

Quickly spread it to the edges of your pan and aim for a thin but structurally sound frisbee.

Allow to cook 2-3 mins, flip and then cook for another 3 seconds.

Serve with a variety of toppings.

(My fave is blueberries and cream or banana and maple syrup. The kids will wrap it up like Mango Pancake at yum cha, except filled with ice-cream.)

*Warning: you may eat stacks of these

PS. The batter will keep for 3 days.

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Yumi finds many people she loves are in caring roles and need to be cared for themselves. So get ready, because this is all about a BIG DEAL chicken soup recipe that - yes - takes two whole days to complete.

This recipe is available in our cookbook The Food Fix.

DAY 1: Make the Stock

Roast up 3kg of chicken wings in a hot oven, seasoned with salt and pepper, until deeply golden. If you have some old onions or old fennel, chuck those in the oven with the chicken. The cooking should take about 35 mins.

Make up the stock by setting the roasted wings in a huge pot with herb stems, bits of carrot, celery, etc., in water with pepper and salt and a fat teaspoon of powdered stock (I use the powdered one from ALDI).

Cook for about an hour.

Strain the stock well into a bowl that will fit in your fridge, allow it to cool, then refrigerate it overnight.

DAY 2: Make the Soup

In your large pot, fry up two well-diced onions in butter.

Add salt and fresh thyme leaves.

Add in 2tbs plain flour and fry that to make a roux.

Slowly add in small amounts of stock to loosen the roux.

Eventually add all the stock and bring up the heat.

Add to this 2-3 whole chicken breasts and poach them in the stock.

Peel and neatly dice 1 decent-sized sweet potato.

Removed and shred the chicken breasts, then return to the pot with the diced sweet potato.

Add in a whole 600ml container of cream.

Stir, check for seasoning. (Don't over-salt it though.)

Serve with crusty bread.

NOTE: On re-heat, be careful not to boil the soup. Just a gentle warming.

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Both your hosts Yumi Stynes and Simon Davis have struggled to get their kids to be adventurous in their eating and cooking. This is a pretty normal stage in kid development (but gee, it can be a drainer!) and it looks like Simon's first-born is starting to grow out of it.

Her exploration of cookbooks in the home reminded Simon of a much-loved but completely forgotten recipe from Jamie Oliver's "Happy Days with the Naked Chef" days.

MARINATED MOZZARELLA with LEMON and MARJORAM

TAKE FOUR BUFFALO MOZZARELLA BALLS and slice them to 1cm slices. Arrange on a serving platter.

Spread all over with a whole container of creme fraiche. Season generously with salt and pepper. Finely chop the rind of a lemon and toss that over. Squeeze the actual lemon lemon over the top.

Add on the herb: Marjoram, ideally, but basil, oregano or parsley will also work!

Serve as a side dish with generous crusty bread or take it along to your next board meeting.

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What to do when you're having people over - want to feed them delicious food but don't want to be tethered to the stove all night?

This applies to Yumi's conundrum (what kind of menu suits a board meeting at her place?) but is a great template for Christmas too!

Simon suggests this recipe from Ottolenghi, as well as prawns, maybe some crackers, and Yumi's famous carrot cake to wrap things up.

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Yumi debriefs about meeting one of her cooking heroes (off-air Simon asked, "Was it a case of 'Never meet your heroes?' and Yumi said, "THE OPPOSITE!") and they share how to make Fatteh and a truly essential yoghurt tahini sauce which is delicious on MANY things but particularly on crisped-up leftover bread that is soaking up the juices of a perfect summer tomato.

Couple of things: Sami has a substack

Find out more about his newest book here

AND Yumi's latest book 'Welcome to Friendship' is nominated for a Book of the Year award via Booktopia. You can vote for it here!

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Simon has just worked on and published an amazing book called 'Around the World in 80 Meatballs' by Bunny Banyai that gives an extraordinary insight into how the meatball exists in cultures all around the world.

Yumi is skeptical about Japanese meatballs but Simon has an incredible German recipe that delivers with a Spinach Sauce that he is going to talk about today.

CREAMY SPINACH SAUCE

Boil a whole bunch of washed English spinach in salted water for 4-5mins. Drain well, reserving a half-cup of the liquid.

Turn 2tbs of plain flour into a roux by frying it up in 2tbs of butter. Cook it in for 2-3 mins.

Add milk then the spinach water, whisking the whole time. Add 1/2 garlic clove, chopped, simmer down for 5-6 minutes, then add back in the spinach. Season with a gentle grating of nutmeg and season well with salt and pepper.

Dunk your fave (paprika seasoned) meatballs in this delicious sauce and enjoy!

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On your favourite food podcast, Yumi and Simon talk about how to make a salad MORE intriguing.

Plus, Yumi needs to confess about the stressful experience of acting!

Find the amazing Recipe Tin Eats salad here.

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Simon is getting ready to shoot his episodes of Adam Liaw's show The Cook-Up (broadcast date TBC) and Yumi is psyched about this recipe that you can get on the table in just 13 Minutes - that was shared in one of her group chats:

It's Marion Grasby's microwaved EGGPLANT RECIPE and is frankly ...amazing! You need to try it to believe it but since recording this ep Yumi has made it 3 more times and it's a keeper, a winner, and a crowd-pleaser.

(Sometimes I top it with finely sliced matchsticks of cucumber, fresh coriander and more chilli. You can get pretty creative.)

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SIMON IS BACK!!

Yumi is delighted to be joined by the steadfast cooking legend and cookbook editor Simon Davis again.

Woot!

They unpack the uses of raising agents like bicarb soda and baking powder in cakes, and whether self-raising flour has a place in our kitchens.

Yumi is also pretty psyched to try this recipe.

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