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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 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. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.

We also love AUDIENCE FEEDBACK!

If you ever want to drop us a line, please DM our instagram (it's hard to get through if you don't follow the show bc the security settings = *HIGH*) or email [email protected]

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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recent news stories covered world-wide shortages of CUCUMBERS, in part because of the influence of food tik tokkers!

How much can tik tok influence what we eat?

And speaking of, do you want to try out Logan's (a successful food tik tok influencer) cucumber recipe? (He has many.)

SMOKED SALMON AND AVOCADO CUCUMBER SALAD

Slice one whole cucumber and set aside.

Make the dressing by mixing:

3tbs whipped cream cheese

2tbs chopped fresh dill

50g capers and their juice

1/4 red onion, finely sliced

1 whole avocado

Bagel "everything" seasoning

pinch of MSG powder

Pour the dressing over the cucumber. Then add in 200g of smoked salmon, chopped loosely. Serve. Maybe on a bagel.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Simon’s recent love affair with miso continues…. This time with a really simple but super delicious Miso, lime and sweet potato bake. It’s super easy - there’s only about a half dozen ingredients that you need and a few that are just a little out of the ordinary (lemongrass, Thai basil, limes) but really, nothing hard to find at all. The flavours though are absolutely spot on – it’s a ‘gratin with attitude’ as Anna Jones puts it and it is absolutely fantastic with beautiful bbq chicken or Yumi’s INFAMOUS vegetarian converter chicken wings. 

Start by making a sauce

Put a 400 ml tin of coconut milk in a blender with 100g cherry tomatoes and roughly chopped - 1 green chilli, a large thumb-sized piece of ginger, 3 garlic cloves, 2 lemongrass stalks and 2 tablespoons white miso paste. Blitz on high until you have a smooth, fragrant sauce. 

Prep your Sweet Potatoes and BAKE

Preheat the oven to 180C. Slice 750g sweet potatoes (4 small/2 large) about ½ cm thick - by hand or MANDOLINE (!). Season with sea salt and layer into a 28cm oiled baking dish (about A4-sized). Layer them in overlapping rows. Pour over the sauce, cover the dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes until the top is browned and the potatoes are cooked through. Take off the foil and bake for another 15 mins. 

Final finish

Grate over the zest of 1 unwaxed lime. Scatter over the leaves of a small bunch of basil (Thai best but normal fine) and bake for a final 5 mins. Serve with 2 limes for squeezing over.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's not a "humble brag" at all to come all up in our show notes and mention that my OTHER podcast - Ladies, We Need to Talk - won 2 awards in November. One for Best Podcast Sex and Relationships - and one for PODCAST OF THE YEAR!

No, it's not humble at all. It's huge.

As it is when your restaurant wins an award. It should be shouted from rooftops because basically, it's an accomplishment that no one can take away from you. Absolutely my podcast won't be PODCAST OF THE YEAR next year. But this year it was. And I'll keep that til I die.

On today's show, we talk about what it means to win, and Simon describes the amazing experience of dining at this year's CHEF OF THE YEAR Award Winner, Jung Eun Chae's restaurant, Chae.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's not every day you make a slice that's so yummy you should retire and just become a permanent cake maker, obviously growing EXTREMELY RICH in the process! Lol!

Have you also noticed your fruit n veg getting cheaper? HMU at [email protected]

RHUBARB SLICE

750g - 1kg rhubarb, washed, dried and trimmed to a salad-like dice.

225g room temp butter

150g sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla paste or essence

450g plain flour

1.25 tsp baking powder

big pinch salt

Combine the butter, sugar in a food processor, add in the vanilla, the eggs one at a time, and at the last minute, add in the flour, salt and baking powder but DON'T OVERMIX.

Split the mix in 2, press half of the mix into a brownie tin, refrigerate or freeze the remaining dough.

Mix the prepared rhubarb with 10g tapioca flour and 80 - 100g brown sugar. 1 tsp of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.

Add that to the brownie tin, spreading evenly.

Spread the remaining mixture over the top of the rhubarb.

Bake for 40 mins at 180C, allow to cool then sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with strong, hot tea!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.