5 Minute Food Fix

Yumi can't let go of trying to perfect a recipe from The Regional Italian Cookbook. Even though it demands we use a cheese that is impossible to find in Australia.

SHE IS DELIGHTED to report that she's cracked the nut! It can be done!

And is predictably delicious!

Grease with butter a 23cm cake tin and drizzle with olive oil.

Pre-heat the oven.

Run 1kg of peeled potatoes through a grater.

Put the potato "noodles" in a colander and rinse well with freshly boiled water from the kettle.

Mix with 1 egg, beaten with 100ml cold water.

Fold through 70g plain flour (or less).

season with salt and pepper and a generous pinch of finely ground white pepper.

Mix well then put into greased tin.

Top with curls of butter (I used about 100g).

Top with handfuls of grated Fontina cheese or Spressa delle Guidicarie cheese.

Bake on the bottom shelf of your oven at 180C for 35 mins.

Serve hot!

If it still seems undercooked on the bottom, cook individual slices on your sandwich press!

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Yumi gets excited to be tasked with the responsibility of cooking a cake big enough to feed a crowd, that is stable enough to take to the beach.

It uses Nagi's 'My Very Best Vanilla Cake' - which is dead-set reliable and brilliant.

A couple of variations: I cook it in a 28 x 35 roasting tin which I line with baking paper and give a light spray with cooking oil.

I also always use coconut oil (the runny, liquid kind) as the oil in the recipe.

Contrary to what I was planning when we recorded this episode, I changed my mind about the icing and used my own recipe:

YUMI's KILLER ICING

500g fresh ricotta (the kind that is sold in a basket or from the deli, NOT the stuff in the tub)

1 block of lactose-free cream cheese (I have found this in ALDI)

260g icing sugar

2tsp vanilla essence and 1tsp vanilla paste

Whizz everything up in a food processor. You'll need to stop a couple of times and scrape the mixture down the sides. Whizz until glossy and lump-free.

Dress the cake immediately if you're eating it immediately. If you're taking it somewhere, my recommendation is you decant the icing into a sealable container (I use a big, clean 2L yoghurt tub) and keep it cool in an insulated bag with a couple of icebricks until needed. (NO ONE wants beach-warm dairy!) Dress with a silicone paddle and top with hundreds and thousands and candles and other delightful nonsense!

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Unfortunately I missed the opportunity to interrogate Simon on him putting a shot of coffee into his BOLOGNESE - please feel free to email your horror reaction to [email protected]

SIMON'S SUPER STEAK COFFEE RUB

1-2 tbs finely ground coffee

1 tbs brown sugar

1tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp salt

Combine the ingredients - it's ready for a couple of big steaks.

TO COOK:

Remember to dry off your steak before you do anything!

Then rub in the smoky coffee rub!

Fry HOT and (pretty) quick - depending on the cut of meat, roughly 2 mins per side on either an oiled pan or with a bit of oil drizzled over the steak prior to cooking.

Allow to rest and serve!

PS. 수박 겉 핥기 [subak geot hal-kki] 

수박 [subak]= watermelon

겉 [geot] = outside

핥다 [haltta] = to lick

Literal translation: "licking the outside of a watermelon"

Source: Talk To Me in Korean

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One of Simon's cookbooks has gone to #1 in Australia for the past fortnight.

It's called The Weekly Grocery Shop and you can buy it here.

The idea kind of inspired Yumi to make croutons (again). This time using an innovation borne of necessity. But they're REALLY GOOD!

Pre-heat your oven to 150C and find the biggest trays you have.

Take one stale sourdough baguette and slice into the thinnest possible rounds.

Lay out the pieces of bread like large coins over the baking trays.

Use a microplane to grate a smoked tasty cheese over the bread slices.

Drizzle lightly with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and sesame seeds (optional).

Bake for 15-20 mins or until smelling toasty and feeling very crunchy.

Store in an airtight container until needed - should last 2 weeks.

Serve in Caesar Salad, Rocket and Pear Salad or on any soups.

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Simon's amazingly healthful and generous Chicken Soup *IS* pretty winning. He tries to massage my competitive gland by telling me Kate Brown (from my book publisher) prefers HIS soup recipe to mine... HOWEVER IT'S UNTESTED and THEY'RE VERY DIFFERENT!

Warm 1tbs oil in a big pot.

Add 4 finely sliced garlic cloves.

Add a thumb of finely grated ginger and 2 tsp ground turmeric. Cook til smelling fancy.

Add in 500g chicken thighs and

3/4 cup of brown rice

1 bay leaf and

8 cups of water or chicken stock. Bring to a simmer.

Cook for 20 mins.

Add in 2 neatly diced zucchini and cook for the last 10 mins.

(30 mins cooktime in total.)

TO SERVE:

Shred the chicken and return it to the pot.

Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper accordingly.

Serve with a squeeze of lemon and a handful of washed coriander, some chili oil (optional!).

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Why DO people cook sweets with vegetables?

Are they trying to use up a glut?

Trick the people they care about into eating more veg?

OR - does it genuinely work as a flavour add-in?

Today we dive into BUNDT cakes, how they go wrong, and we get specific with a Lemon and Zucchini Bundt Cake that is surprisingly easy, lasts well and uses up your dirty gourds!

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Yumi is drawn to a book called The Regional Italian Cookbook but hits some speed humps in trying to make the perfect Potato Cake.

Can you pronounce Spressa delle Giudicarie?

In this episode you can hear Yumi make multiple attempts to say the name of the cheese, which we were unable to find (email us if you know where to get it! [email protected] )

Grease with butter a 23cm cake tin and drizzle with olive oil.

Pre-heat the oven.

Run 1kg of peeled potatoes through a grater.

Mix with 1 egg, beaten with 200ml water.

Fold through 120g plain flour (or less).

season with salt and pepper

Mix well then put into greased tin.

Top with curls of butter (I used about 100g).

Top with handfuls of grated Fontina cheese or Spressa delle Guidicarie cheese.

Bake on 180C for 35 mins.

Serve hot!

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Simon is full of inspiration and new information about PEPPER.

So he's got a lovely recipe for a WHITE PEPPER CHICKEN CONGEE.

Rinse a cup of Jasmine rice.

Add it to a pot with 7 cups of chicken stock, 1 chicken breast and 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely chopped.

Simmer gently for 45 minutes until the rice breaks down.

Remove the chicken breast from the pot and shred it to go back into the congee. Season well with salt and LOTS (talkin' a whole tablespoon here) of our hero ingredient - ground white pepper.

Top with a sprinkle of chopped spring onion, a drizzle of sesame oil and maybe even another sprinkle of ground white pepper! Serve!

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'Cacio e Pepe' is having a moment - but Simon has a fantastic spin on the idea that makes it a great dish for ONE (*side eye Yumi*) and cuts the amount of carbs.

Use one jar of fancy white beans, drain and cook up in a half cup or so of stock with a big knob of butter. Warm it up and then add a generous fistful of Pecorino cheese and a MASSIVE grind of freshly ground black pepper. (Be like Simon - or don't! - and get the best, most interesting black peppercorns you can find.)

Stir and add more cheese, more pepper, and wait until it tastes "restaurant fancy".

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What is a Tarka? Simon explains and there's a really good picture of what it looks like on top of a daal here.

CASHEW SPICE TARKA

1/4 cashews

1 tbs ginger

2 sprigs curry leaves

1/4 tsp nigella seeds

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

Meera Sodha's

1 tsp cumin seed

1 tsp mustard seed

1 long green chilli

curry leaves, all fried in smoking hot oil

QUICK NO-FRY BASIC RED LENTIL DAAL

1 small Spanish onion, thinly sliced

1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced

1 tbs grated ginger

1 tsp grated garlic

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 cinnamon quill

300g red lentils

600ml water

ADD EVERYTHING TO A POT, PRESSURE COOKER or SLOW COOKER and cook for about 40 mins. Add salt and pepper. Then top with a Tarka of your choice!

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