Simon and I are both dismayed to hear that pears have grown so "unpopular" that local growers have been ripping up their trees to try to plant something more lucrative. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-17/pears-out-of-favour-with-shoppers/102961848

Why not just enlist us to plug the pear?

We'd do a great job!

There are so many great uses for this subtle and affordable fruit - not least of all one of the GOATS of salads! (Does not contain goat nor any other livestock.)

DEAD EASY POACHED PEARS RECIPE:

10 pears

250 ml sweet wine

100g sugar

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 180C

Slice the bottoms of the pears so that they can sit proudly upright.

Arrange them to sit close together in a ceramic roasting tray.

Top with a mingled mixture of the wine, sugar and any aromatics you like - eg., cloves, cinnamon, star anise. (Or leave these out!)

Bake for 1 hour, basting with the syrup every 15 mins if you can be bothered.

Serve with ice-cream, custard, yogurt or whatever you like. Use the leftovers to go with breakfast muesli or granola. DELICIOUS!

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Brussels sprouts were only ever polarising because our Boomer parents had no idea how to cook them.

Here in the real world, this seasonal, winter vegetable is INCREDIBLE.

How do you get the most out of them so they're as good as when you sit down for a side dish of these babies at a fancy restaurant with your mum?

It's easy, you can do it!

Find out more on today's episode.

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Yumi and Simon nut out the big questions on today's episode.

What IS the difference between a garnish and something bigger, like a handful of croutons?

Yumi will also talk you through a FANTASTIC cauliflower soup recipe which is easy (tick), delicious (tick), you could probably do tonight (tick!) and it is topped by the most unbelievably enjoyable garnish. (That is actually NOT a garnish.) Wait with baited breath to see if Simon can somehow incorporate his favourite ingredient into today's episode!

INGREDIENTS:

1 whole cauliflower (about 1.6kg), trimmed and cut into chunky florets

2 tins white beans, drained and rinsed

1 litre of chicken or veg stock

3 tbs sakè or dry white wine

2 tbs mirin

2 tbs smoked salt flakes (just use whatever you have)

2 tbs sprigs of fresh thyme

TO SERVE:

1 tub sour cream

juicy lemons

TOPPING

Plain potato chips

Fresh chives

METHOD

Combine everything in the INGREDIENTS list in your slow cooker, turn on 'LOW' and leave for 8 hours.

Blend everything until smooth.

Before serving, stir through the sour cream and lemon juice.

Top each individual bowl with crushed potato chips and a few snips of chives

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In this episode, Yumi asks questions about olive oil, Simon answers.

There's A LOT to Olive Oil that we take for granted, but it's worth knowing why this is such an essential ingredient, how to get the most out of what you're paying for, and what to look for when purchasing.

Olive oil icing: 1 cup icing sugar + 1/3 cup of (good quality!) olive oil. Mix and pour over your carrot cake!

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It sounds silly but farting is a genuine consideration in a lot of peoples' cooking, especially those of us with the most tedious of all the tedious food intolerances, #FODMAP.

Garlic and onion are the devil to our digestive systems and a "bad case of the farts" is way worse than it sounds!

BLACK BEAN RAGU - NO FARTS!

Dice 2 medium eggplant to a 1cm dice

Fry that off in a big frypan in 4tbs of HOT olive oil. Allow 10 mins to really get it soft and a little browned, shrunken down and looking edible and awesome.

Meanwhile, in a blender/food processor, whizz 1 tin of black beans, including the liquid, with 3 good-sized tomatoes, 1tbs white miso, 2tbs tomato paste, and 2 tsp of chilli oil (I use gochujang)

Add this to the frypan with a second tin of black beans, this one drained and rinsed, and 200ml stock.

Allow to cook down for another 5-10 minutes.

Serve on rice, pasta, polenta, toast or on its own.

BASED ON AN ORIGINAL RECIPE FROM Bee Wilson 'The Secret of Cooking'

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YES, we do exist! Not just figments of your fever dream that is 2024!

And we'll be meeting you in person at the Sydney Writers Festival 2024 - Saturday 25 May, 11am with special guest foodies Alex Elliott-Howery (aka "Alex Cornersmith"), and Lucy 'Every Night of the Week' Tweed.

It's 11am so you have time to get to the shops, chuck on the slow cooker, grab a coffee and then come sit with us.

https://www.swf.org.au/program/season-2024/the-dinner-dilemma

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Okay, if you're part of a diasporic community in Australia, there's a strong chance you're all over Plantain as an ingredient! But this incredible, versatile and super delicious ingredient was previously it's not grown locally, was hard-to-find, and expensive. THAT'S ALL CHANGING. (Coming soon to a fancy restaurant near you!)

Plantain is Yumi's prediction for hitting the mainstream here in restaurants, cafes, cooking shows and at home - - so get onto it first!

TO MAKE SIMPLE PLANTAIN CHIPS YOU'LL NEED:

3 yellowish to black plantains

1 flat teaspoon cayenne pepper

generous pinch of salt

4mm sunflower oil for frying

ALSO - We are very excited to be coming to Sydney Writers Festival! Saturday 25th May, 11am at Carriageworks, Simon and I will be joined by Alex from Cornersmith, Lucy 'Every Night of the Week' Tweed and all our usual LoLs and obsessive food chat so please come along!

https://www.swf.org.au/program/season-2024/the-dinner-dilemma

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Don't forget you can come see us with Alex Cornersmith and Lucy 'Every Night of the Week' Tweed at the Sydney Writers Festival on Saturday 25 May, at the extremely farmer's-market-friendly time of 11am! Carriageworks!

On today's episode we're celebrating the rando gadgets you find in hotel kitchens, in this case, the legendary JAFFLE PRESS.

To make The Perfect Baked Bean Jaffle?

plug in the jaffle and get it going

2 slices of sandwich bread (wholemeal or white)

butter the outsides

swipe the insides with a little mustard if you're into that kinda spice

fill the sandwich with a few spoonfuls of drained Wattie's Baked Beans

topped with cracked pepper

generous Havarti cheese

Toast until the cheese is oozing

EAT IMMEDIATELY WHILE ALSO AVOIDING SCALDING THE INSIDE OF YOUR MOUTH

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Simon and Yumi go deep on the humble potato in this episode.

Can washing grotty old potatoes be worth the effort?

What's the difference in supermarket varieties?

NOTES: The word "yogghurt" is not used once in this effort.

WARNING: Curve ball about dishwashers saved til end of episode.

The Dinner Dilemma is going to be a hoot at this year's Sydney Writers Festival! For more info follow this link

https://www.swf.org.au/program/season-2024/the-dinner-dilemma

and to send a couple of photos of the contents of your fridge and pantry?

[email protected]

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Rhubarb only has a short season, but that just makes it more glorious!

It *does* require sweetening, so how do you measure what's the appropriate amount without killing the delicate, perfumed flavour?

Yumi does have a terrific and doable RHUBARB COMPOTE recipe:

800g trimmed, washed and dried rhubarb, cut into finger-lengths

250 - 300g sugar

1 tsp vanilla (optional)

juice of 4 imperial mandarins

Juice the mandarins and cook down with the sugar until reduced by about half before adding all the rhubarb and stirring continuously for 12 minutes. Store in the fridge for 1 - 2 weeks. Eat on cereal with Greek yoghurt or top with crumble topping!

WE ARE AT SYDNEY WRITERS FESTIVAL 2024! Simon and I (Yumi) will be onstage on Saturday 24 May with Alex Elliot-Howery from Cornersmith and Every. Night. Of. The. Week. cookbook author Lucy Tweed. Come along! And if you want your fridge and pantry to be featured, discussed and "solved", email [email protected] with photos of their contents!

https://www.swf.org.au/program/season-2024/the-dinner-dilemma

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