5 Minute Food Fix

Simon Davis is freshly returned from a month in his home country and the delightful dining experiences he had in England have invigorated and enlivened his appreciation of food.

On today's episode we find out what is Simon's FAVOURITE RESTAURANT...?

And we talk through one of the simplest desserts that is so good, I have to "cook" it this afternoon (no actual cooking required).

BALSAMIC STRAWBERRIES

1 punnet of strawberries, washed, hulled and halved

1 tbs of your best balsamic vinegar

2 tbs of white sugar

Coat the strawberries in the vinegar and sugar, then leave them in the fridge to macerate for a couple of hours. Serve plain, alongside cake, or with dollops of cream, crème fraiche, or ice cream!

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A couple of listeners have asked us to talk you through Tapioca Pudding. It's the sort of thing you can buy in the fridge section of health food stores and at specialty Thai Dessert Takeaway places - but unlike it's spiritual sister Bubble Tea, this is pretty easy to make!

Boil 3 cups of water

Add in 1/2 cup of tapioca pearls

Stir and keep an eye on it. The pearls will go from opaque white to translucent and glassy.

Don't overcook it. Take it off the heat when there's still a white nucleus.

Srain and rinse in cold water, stirring with clean hands.

In a seperate small saucepan, cook up

1 cup of coconut milk,

1/2 cup sugar,

1 knotted pandan leaf

Warm the coconut sauce on the stove to thoroughly dissolve the sugar.

Once warmed through, add back in the cooked tapioca. Stir gently. Spoon or pour out into serving cups and top with sour mango or regular mango, and if mango is out of season, top with any fruit such as paw paw, melon, tinned mandarin, pomegranate, etc. Leave to set in the fridge or eat still warm.

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We discuss the utter absence of cooking with cactus in our lives (!) and a cookbook which I have loved by Nik Sharma called VEG-TABLE.

To make the recipe, you need

500g Orecchiette (thus named because the tiny scooped pieces look like a baby's ear

285g frozen peas

11/2 tsp cumin seeds and 1/2 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed in a mortar and pestle

4 cloves of garlic, grated

1 tsp red pepper flakes, eg., Aleppo, Maras or Urfa.

2-3tbs white miso paste (I use 3, Nik Sharma says 2)

lots of grated Parmesan or Grana Padano (I use a cup+)

snipped chives from the garden

Boil the pasta in generously salted rolling boiling water a minute or 2 less than the amount of time recommended on the packet. In the last 2 minutes, add the peas to the pot. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water. Dress the cooked pasta/peas with 1tbs of olive oil. Set aside and then:

Warm 3 tbs good olive oil then add cumin seeds and fennel seeds. Fry for less than 1 minute until releasing their aromas. Add in the garlic and red pepper flakes.

Dissolve the miso paste in 1/3 cup of the reserved pasta water. Add this to the fried spices then add the peas and crush them a little so they're less intact and more prepared to integrate with the sauce.

Use a big slotted spoon to fold the cooked pasta into the spice mixture, adding in about 1/4 cup of cheese. Feel free to add a bit more pasta water to make the final version brothy. Taste. It may need more salt. Serve with more cheese on top and some generous snips of chives.

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On today's episode Simon and Yumi reminisce about when they first started recording the podcast more than 280 episodes ago - in the KiiS Sydney studios, using Kyle Sandilands's diamond-encrusted microphone.

It's been an incredibly fun and delicious ride since then and today's a bit of a full-circle moment as Simon builds on that first ever episode's food suggestion - try grating a tomato on your box grater. Add olive oil and a generous pinch of salt, garlic if you want (don't have to), and then spoon this simple mixture onto sourdough toast. Unbelievable!

So what now? Cook it? Add seafood? You'll have to listen! And share the podcast with your people!

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Some great info in today's episode about why some foods burn while we're cooking them EVEN WHEN WE'RE RIGHT THERE WATCHING.

It's all about SUGAR content!

Whether in a bolognese sauce or the fancy toast you keep burning, WHY? And what to do about it?

PLUS - try this brilliant Teriyaki Sauce recipe that is TOO EASY to believe!

TERIYUMMY CHICKEN

500g chicken thigh fillet, cut into plus-size nuggets, dusted in plain flour

2-3 tbs plain oil, eg., grapeseed, peanut or canola

TERIYAKI SAUCE

2 tbs Kikkoman soy sauce

2 tbs mirin (a sweet wine)

1 tsp honey

Preheat the oil in a heavy-based frypan. When it's hot to sizzle, tumble in the dusted chicken pieces. Fry until burnished, then when pretty cooked, pour in the combined teriyaki sauce ingredients. Cook, stirring to coat the chicken and reduce a little, then remove from the heat and serve immediately on hot rice. Optional: top with a handful of roasted cashews.

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On today's episode I take care to explain exactly what is meant by the Very Online term, 'Girl Dinner'... and I have a girl dinner of my own to share, based on this recipe - but not much like it at all.

YUMI'S GIRL DINNER FLATBREAD

1 x small, round za'atar flatbread, shop bought

about 150g of halloumi cheese, grated

1 x medium zucchini, shaved into ribbons

salt, pepper, a drizzle of honey (optional), fresh oregano (optional)

Pre-heat the grill to HOT.

Top the flatbread with grated halloumi and then arrange the ribbons of zucchini artfully around on top. Season with salt and pepper then pop under the hot grill for about 5 mins. (Keep an eye on it - your grill is different to mine, and how close your tray is to the heating element makes a huge difference to how long it will need. You want the bread hot and steamy, the zucchini cooked and the cheese melted.)

Pull out, pop on a plate, drizzle with honey and oregano if you can stump up that much energy, then serve with an opened tin of sardines on the side. If you want. I mean Simon audibly gagged when I suggested this so you figure it out!

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It's no secret that Simon Davis LOVES Greek yoghurt as an ingredient.

But has he ever been this excited about Greek yoghurt as he is today?

Listen for a fantastic rave about Anna Jones's new cookbook 'Easy Wins' - an exasperated take on mayo - and this fantastic recipe:

Frizzled Spring Onion and Olive Oil Dip

150g good Greek yoghurt, strained if you can be bothered

1 bunch spring onions, finely chopped

100ml olive oil

1 tsp pul biber Turkish chilli flakes

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

zest and juice of 2 limes

salt and pepper

Over a low-medium heat, fry the spring onion and pul biber chilli flakes in the olive oil until crisping and charring on the edges, veritably sizzling and frizzling - around 10 minutes.

At the 9th minute, add the sugar and turmeric.

Remove from heat, add salt and pepper then set aside and allow to cool

Juice and zest the limes into the yoghurt, mix through, add salt to taste.

Opulently dress the yoghurt with the yellow onion and oil mixture. Mix through or leave it on top.

Serve with bread, chips, roast chicken, lamb chops, whatever you want! It's amazing!

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On Yumi and Simon's top-rating food podcast, we unpack the mysterious giant vegetable that is the Daikon.

What are some of the uses?

What can I do if I've foolishly bought one?

Help!

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Making bread takes a bit of effort so you really want it to pay off!

On today's episode, Simon and I discuss YEAST and a book that I am a huge fan of - - Karen Martini's COOK (- which I manage to mis-name as "Food" - my apologies!). There's so much in there, it's basically an encyclopaedia OF FOOD. I even bought a second copy to give to my kid who lives out of home.

And I'm still discovering cool new recipes inside. Like this one:

POTATO BREAD

Combine 300g still-warm mashed potato with 500g plain flour then add to the mixing bowl of your stand mixer.

Add 375ml of warm water which has already had 7g dried yeast added to it and dissolved. Mix using the dough hook for about 6 minutes.

Allow the dough to prove in a warm place (not hot!) until double in size. Could take an hour? Could take longer.

Tip the dough into a metal baking tray. Drizzle it with oil and stretch it to fit the pan. Cover and leave it for 45 mins.

Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 190C.

When your bread looks big and puffy, gooshje your fingers deeply into the dough to create many delightful indentations. Top with your choice of yummies. (I use fresh rosemary and flaky salt.) Karen Martini suggests 250g cherry tomatoes, 80g pitted and torn black olives, Greek oregano, 1 tbs red-wine vinegar, 1 tsp caster sugar and 5 anchovies.

Bake for 40 mins until well puffed and golden.

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It's funny to realise just how inevitable it is that when you first get a mandolin slicer (also known as a 'V-Slicer'), you are likely to cut your fingertips or knuckles a few times before giving the gadget the respect (and caution) it deserves!

Simon has a couple of golden rules for staying safe when using it... and a beautiful salad that makes the most of your amazing mandolin.

Fennel and Radish Salad

1 fennel bulb, trimmed and halved

1 bunch of washed and trimmed radish

parmesan cheese

Lemony dressing:

Juice of 1 lemon

6 - 8 tbs of your best olive oil

salt

1/2 tsp mustard

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