5 Minute Food Fix

To sweeten your work day, Yumi has a shortbread recipe from one of her favourite cookbooks, and another hack if you're a HOME-MADE GRANOLA OBSESSIVE.

The cookbook is PASS IT ON by Shobha Kalyan and Keryn Kalyan and it's out of print but you may be able to get a copy if you contact them via their Facebook.

Cardamom Shortbread

110g ghee, at room temp

90g caster sugar

2tsp ground cardamom

50g pea flour

50g fine semolina

80g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

shelled pistachios or peeled almonds to decorate

Cream the ghee and sugar with the cardamom powder until light and fluffy. Sift everything else on top of the mixture and gently combine, taking care not to overmix.

Roll 22 heaped teaspoons into balls and space out on an oven tray. Lightly dot a pistachio or almond in the middle of each biscuit.

Bake in a pre-heated 160C oven for 20 minutes. Eat while driving!

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In this reheated episode, Yumi gets somewhat misty-eyed about all the travel she's not doing but would like to, where IS the best place for food and eating?

Meanwhile, you can get some nourishment with minimal stress making the following:

WALNUT PESTO!

100g walnuts

garlic oil

3 tbs chopped fresh rosemary

50g grated Pecorino Romano

4tbs walnut oil

Serve on Rana Pasta! (Which Yumi famously misspells out loud during this episode, lol. ) Or whatever filled pasta you can get your hands on.

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We have to replay this episode because it's embarrassing and embarrassment is best shared.

It's not every day that you get to interview an acclaimed and genuinely cool English author who can sell out rooms here in Australia... but that's what Yumi was doing (for one of her other jobs) when something DEEPLY CRINGE AND FOOD-RELATED occurred. You can hear all about it on this reheated episode! LOLSSSSS.

You'll also hear about this SALAD - from an amazing website I use all the time.

1 tomato

2 tbs ponzu

1 tbs toasted sesame seeds

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In this reheated episode, both your hosts had entered the Pod recording studio still high from brilliant restaurant experiences.

Yumi had been to the fairly new Bessie's in Surry Hills, Sydney, while Simon ate again at chef Josh Niland's sublime St Peter in Paddo. BOTH EXPERIENCES WERE TRANSFORMATIVE.

What did we bring home to share with you on this podcast?

Burgers!

REQUIREMENTS?

800g best quality, butcher-supplied mince

slices of aged cheddar

pita pockets

10g of salt, freshly ground pepper

and a BBQ.

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CHRISTMAS WAS HECTIC, and now we need a way to feed ourselves that somehow acknowledges that we can, in fact, stand to take it a bit easy on our tummies this time of year!

On this consistently top-rating food podcast, your hosts try not to cack themselves laughing while they explain a way to make life easy for the home chef while getting good foods into your kids via a food they trust: TOAST.

ELVIS TOAST

Butter a well toasted slice of sourdough.

Add a generous slathering of crunchy peanut butter...

then top generously with sliced banana.

Finish with a tiny amount of very dark chocolate, finely grated over the top!

MAGIC TOAST

Spread a well-toasted slice of sourdough bread with hummus.

Crumble over some fetta.

Season with salt and cracked pepper.

Serve.

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It's Christmas Eve!

Simon and I send you all the best over this time of year - hope you're not spending too much time in the kitchen!

Reviving the Dead Inside You!

Chicken thighs - 500g, cut into large nuggets, dusted in flour

Teriyaki Sauce:

2 tbs Kikkoman Soy Sauce

2 tbs mirin

1 tsp honey

TO COOK:

Pre-heat a frypan, add a tablespoon of oil, toss the chicken in and move the chicken around the pan until it's cooked.

Pour in the sauce and keep stirring - until the sauce is thickened, glossy and reduced. Serve immediately on rice.

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There is nothing my kids love more than a fire-roasted potato, wrapped in foil and eaten with lashings of butter and salt when huddled next to the tent on one of our camping trips.

But what about when there's a Total Fire Ban and you can't have a fire?

Or what about when you get back to the city and you're still craving that Camp Life?

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Yumi is a bit triggered by positive talk about alcohol and a bit triggered by the "dirty" in "dirty martini" - but there's no booze in Simon's recipe for a dip that you can put together in less time than it take for a friend to text and say, "I'm coming over!"

DIRTY MARTINI DIP:

Take a jar of good quality stuffed green olives and decant them into a powerful blender

splash in a bit of the brine

Add a tablespoon of cream cheese or Greek yoghurt

Squeeze of lemon

Pinch of garlic powder

Pulse to a tapenade texture

SERVE from a Martini glass with an olive on a cocktail stick for decoration

WARM CHEESE STRAWS:

Take a sheet of thawed puff pastry

brush with beaten egg

scatter with your favourite leftover cheese, something sharp

season with salt and pepper

(Simon doesn't say this but I would also add sesame seeds)

FOLD IN HALF

Slice into strips

Give the strips a little twist and spread them on a tray

Bake in a pre-heated 200C oven and cook for 12 minutes. Serve warm.

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WARNING:

Yumi loses it trying not to laugh when Simon uses the word "jazzy".

Christmas season means LEFTOVERS.

And honestly, it can get a bit grim.

The fridge is overflowing with food from Christmas and you're absolutely sick of it ...but also, it needs to be eaten!

BEFORE Christmas even arrives, let's pre-empt the leftovers with some thought starters and a recipe.

FESTIVE FRITTATA

Ingredients:

Veg leftovers

200-250g of leftover turkey or ham

6 eggs whisked with 1tbs milk

salt and pepper

some cheeses

In an oven-proof, heavy-based frypan, warm up the veg, get them crisp and heated and reactivated for yumminess.

Add in the finely chopped leftover meat

When ready, season the eggs with salt and pepper and pour the egg mixture over the leftovers in the pan.

Dot cheese around the pan or add a big grating of it over the top. Leftover fancy Christmas cheese is perfect for this.

Put the lid on the pan and leave it for 4 minutes, or until the edges are looking set but the top is wobbly. Set the whole pan under the pre-heated grill for 5 minutes.

Allow it to rest.

Serve wedges of frittata with a squeeze of lemon and some fresh herbs.

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Yumi is not into consumables and plastic crap as gifts.

Because don't you reckon everyone you love already has the things they need? Why buy them something that will probably end up in landfill?

If you *REALLY* want to give gifts, how about money? We'll take some!

Failing money, a wonderful gift is something home-made. A card, some bikkies, or *THIS* beautiful, vivid and amazing-looking raspberry jam.

I took the main bones of the recipe from The River Cottage but added pectin, which you can find pretty easily in mainstream supermarkets.

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