Obviously we're deep in the torture of school holidays so it's the perfect time to dredge up memories about our own schooling. Lol!

Specifically?

The formative, and let's face it, rather delightful childhood experience that was the Year 7 Home Economics classes - where we were taught to cook from a book called 'Cookery the Australian Way'.

Was this your experience too?

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TEA CAKE via YEAR SEVEN FLASHBACKS!!

60 gram butter, plus 15g extra (both portions at room temperature)

1/2 cup caster sugar, plus 1 tablespoon extra

1 egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup self-raising flour

1/3 cup cup milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat the oven to 180C, 160C fan forced.

Cream the butter and sugar. Add in the egg, vanilla, flour and milk. Mix, pour into a small (20cm) cake tin then cook for 15-20 mins.

Melt extra butter, add extra sugar and as much cinnamon as you want then spoon that over the top of your cute and teeny cake. Serve with proper brewed tea - optional to eat with your bare hands! ENJOY YOUR TIME TRAVEL!

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A SHARE PLATE OF STEAK is a great way to centre this nourishing ingredient while keeping it light - and dare I say - digestible?

Based on a recipe by the wonderful Sabrina Gahyour, this is a beautiful platter that gets one steak in front of everyone you're having over for a BBQ!

Make the dressing with 200ml pomegranate molasses, 75ml balsamic vinegar, 1tbs olive oil and 2tsp Dijon mustard.

Cook the steak (whichever you like, eg., sirloin) hot and fast for rare. Allow it to rest for 5 minutes before slicing finely. Serve the slices circling a nest of rocket leaves, drizzle with the dressing and top with a gorgeous tousle of pomegranate seeds.

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\Sometimes the cost on mid-summer berries is too good to walk by so you stock up on some delightful berries and then... need to find a way to use them up.

BLUEBERRY PANCAKES

Melt 80g butter in a small, smooth bowl and set it aside

Pick out the dud berries and compost those! They're not good.

Separate 2 eggs, whizz the whites of the eggs with 2tbs of caster sugar.

Decant into a standby bowl then reuse the mixing bowl (unwashed) to whizz up:

the 2 egg yolks (I misspoke in the episode and said "eggs" not "egg yolks" but it's YOLKS, folks)

1 cup milk

1tsp vanilla essence

pinch salt

combine, then -

sift in 1 cup SR flour (wholemeal is ok)

add in the melted butter

mix just a bit - DO NOT OVERMIX!

then cut through the foamy, meringuey egg white.

Warm up a heavy-based frypan. Rub butter over the pan. Spread 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup sized pancakes on the pan, dot with an ABUNDANCE of blueberries, pop the lid on the pan then leave alone for 1.5 - 2 mins. Flip and cook for another 1.5 mins with the lid off.

Serve immediately with whipped cream, sliced banana, maple syrup, etc.

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If life sometimes feels hard, preparing meals DOESN'T HAVE TO.

Your esteemed and enthusiastic hosts Simon Davis and Yumi Stynes would like you to know that cooking dinner doesn't have to be a time and energy suck! Just remember the things that you love to eat that are good for you.

No less than this one!

It's Adam Liaw's Tomato and Tuna - ON TOAST.

• 5 ripe tomatoes
• 425g tuna chunks in spring water, drained
• ½ cup good quality extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
• ¼ tsp dried oregano
• 4 large, thick slices of sourdough
• ½ cup loosely packed basil leaves

Chop the tomatoes, toss through with olive oil and tuna flakes, check for saltiness and add more if you like. (I have just been reading the amazing chapter on seasoning in Bee Wilson's amazing book The Secret of Cooking - and she has a lot to say about adding pepper! It's a distinctive and potentially flavour-changing seasoning, so maybe leave the pepper on the table for people to add their own.)

Drizzle bread generously with olive oil and toast rather well so there are blackish bits. (Liaw uses a griddle pan, I would just use the toaster but aim for well-done.) Toss the basil leaves gently through the tuna mixture.

Dollop your yummy tuna-tomato mix on top of the toast. Serve immediately.

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Emotional eating?

Or intentional, nourishment-seeking?

Tahini is a fantastic ingredient no matter what type of eating you're feeling.

On today's episode Simon has an aerated and essential tahini sauce from acclaimed foodie Anna Jones but first you have to get through some sass, at least one use of the word "yoggut", a bit of emotional bloodletting, and some lols.

200g tahini

3 tbs olive oil

1 tsp cumin

1 finely chopped garlic clove

the juice of 1/2 a lemon

blending it with 150ml of water

Blend everything until aerated and amazing. Serve on any roasted or grilled vegetable, or on some silverbeet, chard, spinach or kale (well washed), fried down with onion and garlic.

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IT'S SUMMER, so we're celebrating by warming up some of our favourite episodes from the past season.

Here's one where Yumi is laughing so hard she has tears!

It's all about this guy who went viral for his potatoes.

THIS RECIPE IS YUMI'S VERSION

Get a large pot on the stove with 2cm water in, turn up hot.

At the same time, put a full kettle on to boil.

Quarter 700g potatoes.

By the time you've finished cutting up the spuds, the water in the kettle and the small amount on the stove should both be boiling.

Pour the kettle water into the pot on the stove.

Tumble the potatoes in making sure they're not sticking together. Stir a little.

Wait for the water to return to boiling then set a timer for 3 minutes.

Once the timer has sounded, drain the potatoes really well so they're dry, and allow them to cool.

To do the Ibiza method, pop the now-cool potatoes in the FREEZER for 35 mins.

Preheat the oven to 200.

Get a roasting tray on the hob and fill it with at least 2mm of olive oil. Be careful! Use the stove element to heat the oil and when it's spattering hot, carefully decant the potatoes into the oil. They will spatter. Use tongs to make sure each piece is cut-side down.

Pop in the oven and roast for 30 mins before turning to the other cut side, and roast for another 20 mins. Serve when golden crunchy all over.

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A RETURN TO THE TRADIE’S HANDBAG

With summer here, it’s time we remember that there are days when cooking can be all just a bit too hard.

And that’s why we LOVE a rotisserie chicken. We talked about this ALL the way back in " rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">episode 19 – in fact, but there is always more to be said on the subject. 

Recently, Simon has been getting a bit looser with his rotisserie chicken, cheating and using it as the base with utter shamelessness. And it’s this shortcut that he wants to bring to your attention today really – want to whip up a pie quickly? Rotisserie chicken! After a quick, amazing taco wrap? Rotisserie chicken! 

Here he’s injecting more flavour into it with a (pre-bought) red curry paste, lightened up with a greek yoghurt mix to make some crunchy Thai-style san choi bao. Because why not double up the cheats and keep hacking away? It may sound odd, but it’s really not, and the end results are delish. 

Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a small saucepan over medium. Cook 3 tbsp red curry paste, stirring often, until fragrant and slightly darkened and beginning to stick to bottom of pan, about 2 minutes. Scrape into a medium bowl and leave to cool, then stir in 1 cup greek yogurt, 3 tbsp fresh lime juice, 2 tsp honey, and ½ tsp salt.

Add ½ finely chopped medium red onion, 1 finely chopped celery stalk, 12 chopped cornichons, and a large handful of chopped coriander along with 400g shredded rotisserie chicken and toss well to coat. Taste and season with more salt if needed. Spoon the chicken mix into little gem lettuce leaves and top with chopped roasted peanuts and some more coriander leaves, if you like. 

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We're going 'round and 'round on a very small carousel of kid's meals at our house.

And I suspect we're not the only ones!

Simon has a solution, or at least something definitely worth a try! It's a SPINACH and POTATO dish that can be a side to just about anything.

Saag! (serves 4-6)

Heat 1 tbsp ghee (or veg oil) in a large frying pan over medium and add 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds. Let them sizzle and crackle, then add 1 chopped onion, 3 sliced garlic cloves, 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated and 1 teaspoon each of cumin seeds, turmeric powder and garam masala, cook for 4-5 minutes until the onion is going golden. Then transfer everything out of the pan with a slotted spoon. 

Add another 2 tbsp ghee to the pan with 600g waxy potatoes (chopped into 1.5cm pieces), stir to coat in all the lovely spices, then add 1/3 cup (80ml) water. Cover and cook for 5 mins until potato starts to soften, then remove lid and cook for a further 10-15 mins until a nice crust forms. 

Add the onion mixture back to the pan with 400g baby spinach leaves, giving everything a good stir until the spinach leaves have wilted. Season to taste with salt and pepper and give it a squeeze of lemon if you like. Finished!

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MEATBALLS, MEATBALLS EVERYWHERE

KOFTA W.QUINOA TABBOULEH

Add ½ cup quinoa to a full saucepan of boiling water. Cook for 20 mins until tender. Drain and set aside. 

While the quinoa is cooking, zest 1 lemon. Finely chop a garlic clove and add to a bowl with ½ cup panko breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons water, 250g beef mince, the lemon zest, garlic and a good fat pinch of salt and a few big grinds of pepper. Shape into 6 koftas (patties), then cook in a frying pan for 5-6 minutes until golden brown on both sides. 

While the kofta are frying away, whip up a quick dressing for the tabouli by mixing the juice from the lemon together with another 1 tbsp olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar and some salt and pepper. And finely slice an eschalot/1/2 red onion and chop a tomato and lebanese cucumber into 1cm pieces. Combine all the tabouli ingredients in a bowl, tear over a bunch of mint leaves, pour over the dressing and toss together. Serve in bowls topped with the kofta and a few big dollops of…you guessed it… Greek yoghurt.

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I LOVE SAMBAL OELEK!

It's a jarred chilli condiment from Indonesia that you can buy in every supermarket. Adding it to rudimentary weeknight foods can add energy - and it's not SUGARY like other chilli sauces.

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METHOD

Cube your tofu brick.

Dredge the cubes in a mixture of 1/2 cup potato flour, 1.5tsp salt, LOTS of freshly ground pepper, a tsp of ground white pepper.

Spray with cooking oil then air fry for 10 minutes. Turn, then cook for another 10 minutes.

SAUCE

In a teeny tiny saucepan, combine 1/4 cup sugar, 3tbs each of rice vinegar and soy sauce, then cook to reduce slightly, about 5 mins. Take off the heat and stir through 1tsp of sambal oelek.

SERVE

In a bowl, toss the tofu in the sauce, serve immediately garnished with snipped coriander or spring onion.

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