Harissa butter beans

May 6, 2026

   

 

I've got a bit of a type when it comes to dinner recipes: come up with some kind of one-pot, bean-based situation with lots of flavour and a solid dose of veggies and I'm going to put it on my list. So when I saw a colleague eating this for lunch at work I was immediately nagging her to send me the recipe. 

It's very simple and very adaptable and has already had a second go around for a weeknight dinner here - you've got a bit of bite from the harissa smoothed out by the coconut milk and some nice depth of flavour from the nooch and the sun-dried tomatoes. Butter beans are great here, but it would work equally well with white beans. We've had it with little roti breads on the side (as pictured) and with some fresh sourdough, both of wich were excellent. It will slot smoothly into the rotation, alongside other beany favourites. 

Harissa butter beans

(via this recipe from Nutri View)

2 cans butter beans, drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 shallots, peeled and sliced finely

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped (the recipe drains the oil off, but I reckon it's worth tipping it in!)

3 tablespoons harissa paste

400ml coconut milk

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 bunch kale, stemmed and roughly chopped

Heat the olive oil over med-high heat in a large pot and cook the shallots for a few minutes until they've softened. Add in the garlic and cook, stirring, for another minute or two. Tip in the sun-dried tomatoes and their oil and stir to combine. 

Add the butter beans and the harissa, stirring to coat the beans in the spice paste. After a couple of minutes, tip in the coconut milk and lower the heat. Bring the mix to a low simmer and stir in the nutritional yeast, garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. 

Simmer for about 15 minutes until it's thickened a bit and then add the chopped kale, cooking just long enough for it to properly wilt - about 5 minutes. 

Serve, with whatever bread product you fancy. 

Gochujang & tofu ragu with gnocchi & pickled cucumber

January 4, 2026

   

Cindy keeps a reasonably close eye on Meera Sodha's vego food column for The Guardian, and flagged this one as Relevant To My Interests as soon as it popped up. It really does tick all my boxes: chilli forward, carbs and protein and something you can throw together on a school night. I liked the idea of the fresh cucumber pickle as an accompaniment too, so I went all in on Meera's vision, and added some bonus broccoli. 

It's a fun dish - a kind of gnocchi ragu, with the blitzed tofu standing in for mince, but the flavours are not very Italian, driven by chilli bean sauce, gochujang and sesame oil. It works for me, and just writing this up has reminded me that I should cook it again soon.

Gochujang & tofu ragu with gnocchi & pickled cucumber

(based on this recipe from Meera Sodha)

pickled cucumber

1 decent sized cucumber

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

gnocchi

500g gnocchi

2 tablespoons olive oil

200g spring onions, sliced finely

1 head of broccoli, chopped into bite-sized pieces

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon minced ginger

300g firm tofu, blitzed to a mince-like consistency

2 tablespoons chilli bean sauce

1 tablespoon gochujang paste

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon tamari

2 teaspoons sesame oil

2 teaspoons maple syrup

While your gnocchi cooking water is heating up, start making your pickle: combine the salt and cucumber slices in a bowl and then pop them in a sieve over a bowl to drain out the moisture.

Cook the gnocchi as per the packet instructions and drain.

Put your oil in a large fying pan over medium heat and add in most of the spring onions, the garlic and the ginger. Cook, stirring, for a few minutes, until the sting is out of the garlic. 

Add the broccoli and tofu and turn the heat up, stir-frying your mix for 8 or 10 minutes, until the tofu mince browns up a bit. Stir in all your sauces and seasonings and then add in the cooked gnocchi plus about a cup of water. Bring the mix to the boil and then kill the heat and stir through your leftover spring onions.

Take your drained cucumber and pop it in a bowl, along with the rice vinegar and sesame seeds.

Serve it all up and enjoy.

Corn & sour cream filo pie

December 25, 2025

   

My mum, brother and aunty visited our place for Christmas in 2025. They don't expect anything fancy of us but are always very appreciative when Michael and I cook. The weather was right for a picnic at the nearest park so we planned a menu that we could feasibly take down there. The centrepiece was a filo pie stuffed with charred corn kernels, spring onions, feta and sour cream.

I adjusted the recipe to suit my style. I thought, mid-summer, that fresh corn would be much more fun than canned. I sautéed the spring onions, instead of mixing them into the filling uncooked, because I prefer my onions tender. Dragging the pastry sheets through the thick filling seemed unwieldy, so I just layered up the filo and filling in turns as I'm accustomed to. And I used the whole box of filo, instead of the fraction suggested in the recipe, for convenience.

This pie was worthy of the occasion, standing tall and golden with a creamy and gently savoury centre. We didn't mind spilling pastry shards all over the blanket. The pie was well teamed with a pomegranate molasses-dressed tomato salad and roasted asparagus topped with capers and almonds. We followed up with bienenstich for dessert at home. 

Corn & sour cream pie

(slightly adapted from a recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi in The Guardian)

the kernels from 2 cobs corn

300g spring onions, finely chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 eggs

300g sour cream

200g feta, crumbled into 2-3cm pieces

100ml milk

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

salt and pepper

spray oil

375g box filo pastry

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

100g baby cornichons

Place a medium frying pan over medium-hot heat and add the corn kernels. Stir them only occasionally, allowing them to char. Before they properly burn, transfer the kernels to a large bowl. Keep the heat in the pan going, and sauté the spring onions in a bit of oil until tender; when they're ready, turn off the heat and add them to the corn in the bowl. Beat the eggs and pour them onto the corn; add the sour cream, feta, milk, baking powder, salt and pepper, stirring everything together until well combined.

Preheat an oven to 200°C and line a springform cake dish with baking paper. Unpack the filo pastry and roll it up in a lightly damp tea towel. Spray oil into the cake dish and build up some filo sheets to cover the base and sides. Spoon in about half of the corn filling, then scrunch up some more pastry sheets and spray them with a bit of oil in between; repeat with the remaining corn filling and messily layer the rest of the filo sheets with some oil on top. Give the top a final oil spray and sprinkle over the sesame seeds. 

Bake the pie for about 40 minutes, until golden on top, then allow it to cool for up to an hour, before serving with the cornichons on the side.

Sticky apricot, rosemary & almond cake

December 10-11, 2025

   

Long time readers will be well aware that Cindy is really the baker in this household. My attempts at sweet treats are occasional and perilous, usually limited to a work morning tea or, classically, Cindy's birthday. In the months before the big day this year, one of my more talented baking pals started raving about this cake, an apricot, rosemary and polenta situation from the Kitchen Projects substack. December is stone fruit season, so it seemed like a perfect solution to my annual baking challenge.

It's entirely gluten free, but heavy on the dairy and eggs. The most surprising step in the recipe is the use of cooked polenta, which is blended up with eggs as kind of the core of the cake batter - it's a bit of a faff, but the smooth, dense texture is worth it. I could have pressed the apricots in a bit deeper and baked the whole thing for a bit longer, but this was still a delicious outcome - the sweet, sticky apricots go nicely with the rosemary. Definitely a winner for the coeliacs in your life, and probably a hit with everyone who likes sweet treats.

   

Sticky apricot, rosemary & almond cake

(from this recipe on the Kitchen Projects substack)

115g butter

110g sugar

2 eggs

40g dried polenta

140 almond meal

3g baking powder

3g salt

cooked polenta

20g polenta

100g milk

topping

4 apricots, halved

30g butter

30g sugar

a couple of teaspoons of chopped rosemary and some small little bushels

Cook your polenta first, by heating the milk up to a gentle simmer and whisking in the polenta - keep whisking until it's creamy and smooth and then kill the heat and leave to cool.

Once it has cooled down blend the cooked polenta with your 2 eggs and set aside.

Now cook your apricots. Melt the butter in a decent sized frying pan. Add the sugar and, once it's bubbling, add the finely chopped rosemary and pop the apricots in, cut side down. Sprinkle the rosemary bushels in and cook on low heat for 8-10 minutes, until they've got a little bit of colour on them.

Now pre-heat your oven to 170°C and line a round 20 cm cake tin. Time to put your cake together. Cream the butter and sugar in a big bowl and then beat through the blended polenta/egg mix. 

Combine all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl (almond meal, dried polenta, baking powder and salt) and then stir the dry mix into the main batter bowl. Pour the mix into your cake tin and then press the apricots into the batter, before pouring over the rosemary/butter/sugar mix over the top.

Bake for at least 30 minutes - I got worried at about 35 and took it out, but it could definitely have been pushed a bit further to get a really nice golden top. 

Chickpea & artichoke salad

October 6, 2025

   

Michael was away for work, and I wanted to stock the fridge with a couple of durable salads to rely on across the week. This one was so deep in my bookmarks that I needed the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to retrieve it! It's a natural and appealing mix of artichoke hearts and chickpeas, both browned in a pan, then dressed with lemon juice, olive oil and some green herbs, finished with almonds.

This fit the brief perfectly. I first ate it alongside beetroot and rhubarb salad and vegetarian sausage rolls, and in a few other configurations as the week went on.

Chickpea & artichoke salad

(slightly adapted from a recipe by Ricki Heller)

5 tablespoons olive oil, and/or oil from the jar of artichoke hearts

juice of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons dried or 2 tablespoons fresh basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup flaked almonds

1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 x 280g jar artichoke hearts, drained and quartered (reserve oil, if included)

2 cloves garlic, minced

In a medium-large bowl, whisk together 3 tablespoons of oil, lemon juice, basil, oregano, parsley and salt. Set aside.

Set a frypan over medium heat and gently toast the flaked almonds until they're starting to brown and they smell great. Remove them from the pan.

Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil into the frypan. Add the chickpeas to the oil and cook them for about 10 minutes, until they start to brown. Transfer the chickpeas from the pan to the bowl.

Add 1 more tablespoon of olive oil to the frypan. Place the artichoke hearts in the pan and cook until they're well browned on that side, then turn them to brown them on another side. Add the garlic and stir it all together for a minute, then transfer the artichoke hearts and garlic to the bowl. Stir everything together well, then sprinkle over the flaked almonds.

Omelette roll sushi rice bowl

September 26, 2025

   

This is a fun little Meera Sodha recipe that we'd never think to compose ourselves, but we love on sight! So much so that we repeated it one night later with our remaining eggs, and again perhaps a month after that. The hook is the mirin-sweetened omelette roll. It's teamed with sushi rice, quick-pickled carrots and wasabi mayo. 

We've made some minor adjustments. We prefer less rice in the ratio and sprinkle a little shichimi togarashi over it for extra spice. We add a scoop of microwaved edamame for some extra greens and a novel texture. That's it! If there's a downside, it's that this meal isn't particularly leftover or lunchbox friendly. But it's a level of effort that we're willing to make on a weeknight, and it feels like a treat.

Omelette roll sushi rice bowl

(slightly adapted from a recipe by Meera Sodha in The Guardian)

200g sushi rice (this was too much for us, and we reduced by a third the second time)

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup sushi rice vinegar, or 1 tablespoon caster sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup rice vinegar

1 large carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks

1-2 teaspoons wasabi paste

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 cup frozen edamame

6 medium eggs

1 tablespoon mirin

1 1/2 tablespoons tamari

2 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil

shichimi togarashi

1/2 teaspoon black sesame seeds

Place the rice in a saucepan and cover it with 280ml water. Bring it all to the boil, cover it with a lid, turn down the heat to low and cook for a further 10 minutes. Turn off the heat but keep the lid on for another 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, stir together half of the salt and half of the sushi rice vinegar. Set it aside. 

Place the carrot matchsticks in a medium bowl, pour over the remaining sushi rice vinegar and salt. Stir it all together and set it aside.

In a small bowl, mix together the wasabi paste and mayonnaise. Set it aside too.

Place the edamame in a microwave-safe bowl and cover them generously in water. Microwave for 2 minutes, until hot, and set aside.

Now, the main event. Crack the eggs into a medium bowl and beat them well. Add the mirin, tamari, and half a tablespoon of sesame oil. Set a frypan over medium heat and add a tablespoon of the sesame oil. When it's hot, pour in half of the egg mixture and cook until golden on the bottom and just barely set on top. You can take the omelette out now, or flip it to fully set the other side if you prefer. When the omelette is done, transfer it to a plate and repeat with the remaining sesame oil and egg mixture.

To serve, divide the rice between two shallow bowls and sprinkle it with shichimi togarashi. Roll up each omelette, slice them into inch-thick spirals and arrange them next to the rice. Add the edamame and pickled carrot to the bowl, then spoon in the wasabi mayonnaise and sprinkle it with black sesame seeds.

Coconut caramel cake

August 2, 2025

   

My chocolate-avoiding mum stopped in for a visit, and I had time to bake us a cocoa-free treat in the couple of hours before she arrived. Even better, Michael and I had time to feast at Tofu Shoten around our grocery shopping. We were hoping to find frozen grated coconut at an Indian grocer that Michael recalled being nearby but they were long gone. Woolies didn't have the coconut either, though they did have something called "moist flakes coconut" that I was hoping would do the job. We were home before I noticed that the flakes were already sweetened and I regretted my choices.

To be honest, this coconut caramel-topped cake went just fine even if I wasn't thrilled with it. The cake was warm and fluffy on the day of baking, firmed up a lot on day two, and I couldn't really taste the cardamom either way. The thick layer of coconut caramel on top was perfectly browned, very sweet and verrry chewy. The recommended dollop of plain yoghurt offered a welcome tangy contrast. I wonder if frozen coconut would be more tender - probably so, but not enough to rescue this recipe from my ambivalence. This was a good cake, but not a great cake, happily shared during a fine family time.

   

Coconut caramel cake

(slightly adapted from a recipe in The Guardian)

coconut caramel

120g caster sugar

250ml coconut milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

300g fresh or frozen coconut, coarsely grated (not 225g sweetened moist coconut flakes)

30g butter

cake batter

3 eggs

220g caster sugar

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon salt

220g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

80g butter, melted

150mL coconut milk

to serve

yoghurt

Start by making the caramel. Place the sugar in a saucepan and set it over medium heat. Swish it around intermittently for about 5 minutes, until the sugar is melted and golden brown. Gently add the coconut milk and salt - it'll sputter. Carefully stir it all together until it's well combined (the sugar may solidify and need to re-melt). Stir in the coconut and cook for a couple more minutes. Stir in the butter until melted and well combined. Turn off the heat and allow the caramel to cool.

Preheat an oven to 190°C. Line a springform cake tin with paper and spray with oil.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, cardamom and salt. Keep beating for several minutes until very fluffy. Sift over the flour and baking powder and fold them into the egg mixture. Gently stir in the melted butter and the coconut milk.

Pour the cake batter into the cake tin and bake for 40 minutes, until golden. Spread the coconut caramel over the top of the cake and bake for a further 15-20 minutes, until the topping is golden and a little crisp at the edges. Allow the cake to cool before releasing it from the tin and serving, with a generous dollop of yoghurt.

Microwaved porridge

July-August, 2025

   

Getting a microwave in the past year has been handy for leftovers, heat packs, and the odd meal. It's also inspired me to circle back to porridge as a winter breakfast, after at least a decade's lapse. It's fast, it's filling, and it doesn't create a messy saucepan to clean up!

I also find it's a handy way to use up pantry odds and ends as toppings. This bowl included brown sugar syrup, chia seeds, chopped dried figs and walnuts. More recently I've switched to dried apricots and flaked almonds.

Microwaved porridge

(a recipe gleaned from some general online searching)

Use a mug to measure out your desired quantity of quick oats, and place them in a microwave-safe serving bowl. Fill the mug with a equal volume of liquid and stir it briefly into the oats (I use an even mix of milk and water). Microwave the mixture on a standard setting for 1:30 minutes. Stir the mixture, then return it to the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir the porridge again.

Add your toppings. I drizzle over a sweet syrup, sprinkle on some seeds, often add some extra cold milk, and finish with dried fruit and nuts.

Some slice with some crunches

July 13, 2025 

   

On a mini weekend away in Castlemaine during July, I had the perfect piece of slice at Stak's Cafe. It was a bit biscuity but more chewy caramel, with big chocolate buttons melted into the top and lots of roasted peanuts. It made me want to bake something similarly chaotic and sweet and salty, so I pulled out a recipe for 'quadruple crunch bars' from Hungry & Frozen. It smashes together potato chips (ever heard of 'em?), rice bubbles, butterscotch lollies and chocolate into a biscuit slice base.

I have to admit up front that I let down this recipe before it let down me. I melted the butter instead of creaming it with the sugar because I'm lazy about using electric beaters, this is a slice, and I wasn't convinced that it was needed. Then I used a medium-large bowl that was way too small for all the dough and the gentle folding needed here. From there I think the recipe needs to take some responsibility: there was way too much mixture for a 25cm square baking tray, perhaps even too much for the 25 cm x 30 cm tray I tried after that. There was so much chocolate (complimentary) that it wasn't to be drizzled about playfully, but instead thickly spread across the entire slice.

Honestly, this was not quite the crunch-a-thon I was hoping for (although the height of the slice certainly did have it crashing into the roof of my mouth). I was surprised how much the potato chips, rice bubbles and butterscotch melded into the biscuit dough. The slice did get a bit crunchier after storage in the fridge. I think these were originally intended to be cookies and I'm tempted to backtrack to that version... rolling the biscuit dough into loose balls and shoving chunks of the crunchy ingredients (choc chips included) into it. This was a sweet, fun slice and yet I hold out hope that there is an even more brilliant recipe lurking within it. 

Some slice with some crunches

(slightly adapted from this recipe on Hungry & Frozen)

250g butter

300g brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

300g plain flour

2 tablespoons milk

150g plain salted, ruffled potato chips

60g rice bubbles

140g bag Werther's Originals butterscotch lollies

200g chocolate

Preheat an oven to 190°C. Line a walled baking tray with paper (at least 25 cm x 30 cm).

Melt the butter and place it in a very large bowl. Stir in the brown sugar, then the vanilla, then the bicarb soda and baking powder. Sift and stir in the flour and then the milk, mixing until well combined. 

Crush the potato chips and add 3/4 of them to the bowl, along with the rice bubbles. No need to stir them just yet!

Unwrap and roughly chop the Werther's butterscotch lollies and add them to the bowl. Now it's time to carefully fold the crunchy things through the dough, mixing until just combined.

Transfer the mixture to the baking tray and use the back of a spoon to spread it out as evenly as you can. Cut slices into the dough where you plan to portion it later. Bake the slice for 25-30 minutes, until golden on top. Allow the slice to cool.

Melt the chocolate using your preferred method and spread it over the slice - the original recipe suggested decorative drizzling but I had plenty for a full layer across the slice. Sprinkle over the remaining chips so that they're caught in the chocolate as it sets. Cut and serve the slice after the chocolate has set.

Cheesy scone wedges

June 29, 2025

   

I was not planning to blog this recipe. It was a spontaneous after-work thing, just a little something to eat with the potato and leek soup that Michael was planning and one quick, poorly composed photo for the groupchat. But these cheesy scone wedges, with a bit of leftover chopped chives thrown in, were so incredibly good that I don't want to forget them.

This might be the first time that I've stumbled upon achieving the flaky texture of an American scone. Even better, I achieved it with a food processor and minimal mess. I think the key is not overworking the dough, which keeps some little pockets of butter distinct from the flour. I have very little experience with RecipeTin's famous recipes since they're not vegetarian but these scones are clear evidence that they know what they're doing. 

Cheesy scone wedges

(slightly adapted from a recipe on RecipeTin Eats)

1 3/4 cups plain flour, plus a little extra for working the dough

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

100g butter, cold and diced

2 cups grated cheddar (I used Damona pecorino and it was brilliant)

1/4 cup chives, finely chopped (optional)

3/4 cup milk

Preheat an oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with paper.

Place the flour, baking powder and salt into a food processor. Pulse briefly to mix. Add the butter and pulse just a few times until it's down to pea-sized pieces (don't overdo it - I think is where the flakiness comes from). Add 1 1/2 cups of the cheese and the chives (if using) and pulse just once to partially mix. Gradually add the milk through the top tube and pulse intermittently, until the mixture just comes together.

Sprinkle a little flour onto a clean work surface and turn the dough onto it. Bring the dough together into a very thick disc (maybe 5 cm?). Slice the disc into 6 wedges and place them on the baking tray with a 2 cm gap between pieces. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the scone wedges and lightly press it in. Bake the scones for around 20 minutes, until they're cooked through and the cheese on top is golden.

Golden syrup potato dumplings

June 21, 2025

   

While the potato chip Florentines were fast and fun, this idea rattled around in my head for a while before I was ready to get a saucepan out. I don't have a history with golden syrup dumplings though I feel as if I should. They're surely a cousin to the self-saucing puddings I know, with the golden syrup hinting at a British-Aussie lineage, easy to imagine either of my grandmothers making even though I don't think they did! (There's a little more about golden syrup dumplings on Green Gourmet Giraffe.)

I was thinking about how gnocchi are dumplings, and initially imagined that I might simply cook gnocchi in a golden syrup sauce as a potato-themed tribute to golden syrup dumplings. Then I thought about the savoury potato dumplings we love atop this mushroom casserole and figured I could go a step further, making my own potato scone dough instead of buying vegan gnocchi. This called for a couple of test batches. The first round was pretty good, but a bit rubbery due to my use of gluten-free flour. The second wheat-flour batch was noticeably better, and I went ahead and doubled it on potluck day, preparing them at home, then microwaving them at our host's house after dinner.

As a golden syrup dumpling novice, I struggled to judge when they were ready. I was very worried that the ones I took to the potluck had completely disintegrated into the sauce and I'd just be ladling out lumpy caramel soup for dessert. Thankfully I was mistaken, there were spoonable dumplings still to be found, and everyone (non-coeliac) took them on with enthusiasm and a scoop of vanilla icecream. The mashed potato renders their texture a little less cakey and more fudgy than a traditional dumpling but it's a standard texture scale for brownies that I'm happy to transfer to another dessert.

Golden syrup potato dumplings

(a meld of this savoury potato dumpling recipe and this golden syrup dumpling recipe)

dumpling dough

1 medium potato, to make 1/2 cup mashed potato

1 1/2 tablespoons margarine

3/4 cup plain flour (can use gluten-free but the texture is more rubbery)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon brown sugar 

1/4 cup water or milk

caramel sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup golden syrup

2 tablespoons margarine

1 1/2 cups water

Fill a saucepan with water and set it over medium-high heat. Peel and roughly chop the potato, and gently drop the pieces into the saucepan. Bring it all to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes but keep them in the saucepan. Mash the potatoes until there are no lumps, and stir in the margarine. Stir in the flour, baking powder and sugar, then the water/milk to make a dough.

Fill a larger saucepan with all of the sauce ingredients, stirring them together. Set the mixture over medium-high heat and bring it to the boil. Drop generous spoonfuls of the dough into the sauce. Reduce the heat to low and place a lid on the saucepan, cooking the dumplings until they pass the skewer test, about 15-20 minutes. Serve two dumplings each to four people, accompanied by a scoop of icecream.

Potato chip Florentines

June 21, 2025

   

After the great success of my tomato potluck desserts, I enjoyed musing over the possibility of potato potluck desserts for several weeks. This idea came late and fast: substitute plain potato chips in for the usual flaked almonds in my favourite Florentine recipe. So simple to do, and still so tasty! The potato chips toasted to perfection under the syrupy binding mixture, and the dash of salt was welcome. If anything I would have liked more potato flavour here. There's definitely room to play around with different potato chip brands and thicknesses, as well as the quantity added to the recipe. What a fun, tasty process of refinement that would be.

Potato chip Florentines

(adapted from this recipe by Meera Sodha)

60g pistachios, finely chopped 

90g thick/ruffled plain salted potato chips, crushed

50g hazelnuts, chopped 

100g dried cranberries (or other sour berries) 

2 tablespoons plain flour (can be gluten-free)

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

75g margarine 

50g brown sugar 

2 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup

200g dark chocolate

Heat an oven to 200°C. Line a large baking tray with paper.

Chop and crush all the ingredients that need it. Stir together all the nuts, chips and dried fruits in a large bowl. Stir through the flour, salt and cinnamon until combined.

Place the margarine, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan and set it over medium heat. Cook the mixture, stirring, until everything has melted together and become smooth. (You can also heat in the microwave and stir together.) Take it off the heat and pour it over the nut mixture in the bowl. Stir it all together to combine, then pour the mixture out onto the baking tray. Form a large rectangle about 1 cm thick; mine was about 30 cm x 22 cm.

Bake the Florentine slab for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown - keep a close eye on it to avoid burning! Allow it to cool completely.

Melt the chocolate using your favourite method and pour it over the flattest side of the Florentine rectangle. Allow the chocolate to set completely at room temperature. Slice the Florentine slab into rectangles or diamonds to serve.  

Bush tomato shortbread

May 2-3, 2025

   

Some of our best Melbourne friendships were forged through veg*n blogging and potlucking more than 15 years ago. We remain in contact but life changes - any combination of moving to more distant neighbourhoods, raising kids, health issues, and busier careers mean that few of us have maintained the same time, energy and enthusiasm for elaborate cooking. 

Yet there's been a happy little resurgence this year - over a birthday banquet out, the idea was hatched to hold a tomato-themed vegan potluck. Ever the sweet tooth, I resolved to make dessert and make it good. Here's my first of two contributions: bush tomato shortbread.

I loved using the Mabu Mabu bush tomato spice mix in damper, but at some point they stopped stocking it. I looked around online on and off for months, perhaps years, and it seemed pretty scarce. With this renewed motive, I found unadulterated dried bush tomato through Native Oz Bushfoods and mail-ordered a couple of pouches.

From there I kept it simple, using a vegan shortbread base (sourced from vegan blogging mate Steph!) that I'd usually flavour with lemon myrtle and macadamias. It's easy to make in one bowl and can be mixed by hand. I thought about adding a little cinnamon to assert this as a sweet spice mix but I'm glad that I didn't. The bush tomato shone through, tangy and fruity, dessert without a doubt. Thank goodness I'm stocked with enough spice to make more.

Bush tomato shortbread

(adapted from this recipe, which is based on this one from Vegan About Town)

200g margarine

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 tablespoons bush tomato powder

Preheat an oven to 190°C. Line a baking tray with paper.

In a medium bowl, use a fork to beat together the margarine and sugar. Add the flour and mix until combined. Add the bush tomato and mix again. Roll scant tablespoons of the dough into balls and place them on the baking tray. Bake for ~15 minutes, and allow to cool before serving.

Vegan chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter buttercream

April 5, 2025

   

After a couple of underwhelming bakes with my decades-old metal cupcake tray, I put "silicon cupcake tray" on my op-shopping wishlist. I easily tracked one down for a couple of dollars within weeks and then, of course, I had to test it out. I browsed my old recipe bookmarks and picked out a Burned Butter post for chocolate-peanut butter cupcakes.

The tray had only six cups, so I halved the recipe... and still ended up with 10 cupcakes. (If I'd read the source recipe properly, I'd have known that the original was supposed to make 24. I've written out my 10-cupcake version below.) The cake itself is a lovely, simple pantry-friendly vegan chocolate. The only potential pitfall is getting the batter mixed properly - I sifted the dry ingredients directly into the wet ones and ended up with a few powdery lumps in the cakes. I pulled the cakes out at the 20 minute mark to keep them moist, but found that their bottoms dragged on every surface they touched, leaving cakey smears on the baking tray, the cooling rack and the lunchbox I stored them in. The latter four had more time to rest in the tray and fared better.

My veganised buttercream went off without a hitch, and I slathered on a modest amount with a knife - I have a minimal-frills attitude to cupcakes, and these were bang on my preference. The silicon pan showed much promise, and I scavenged a second six-cupper from another op-shop a month or so later.

Vegan chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter buttercream

(recipe adapted from Burned Butter,

where it's credited to Joy the Baker and Ina Garten) 

chocolate cake

1 1/8 cups plain flour

1 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup neutral vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 cup water

peanut butter buttercream

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/3 cup margarine

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup icing sugar

Preheat an oven to 180°C. Prepare a cupcake tray as you wish, with papers and/or oil.

In a medium bowl, sift together and flour, sugar, cocoa, bicarb soda and salt, then stir to combine.

In a small bowl, whisk together oil, vanilla, vinegar and water. Gradually pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, stirring thoroughly to combine; the batter will be quite liquid. Gently pour the batter into the cupcake tray until two-thirds full. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the cakes pass the skewer test. Allow them to cool before icing.

Beat together the peanut butter, margarine and vanilla. Sift over the icing sugar and beat until well combined and fluffy. Spread the buttercream over the cooled cupcakes.

Blistered beans with gnocchi Trapanese

March 22, 2025

   

We're increasingly obsessed with Meera Sodha's recipes and have been digging around for ideas whenever the urge to cook something new takes us. She's very good at putting together really tasty dishes that don't require as much fussing as an Ottolenghi (for example). This is increasingly our cooking sweet spot - we don't put aside whole afternoons for dinner prep very often these days, so something that can be whipped together in less than an hour is always looked on favourably. 

We picked this one out for a lazy Saturday night in March and it delivered exactly what we needed. The little pesto you make is super simple but a cut above using a store-bought sauce. We added a can of white beans to the blistered green beans to bulk things out a bit, but it makes a pretty scant four serves, so consider doubling this if you really want to get into some leftovers.

Blistered beans with gnocchi Trapanese

(based on this recipe from Meera Sodha's Guardian column)

50g flaked almonds, lightly toasted

100g olive oil

30g basil (fresh leaves is best, we got stuck with those weird Gourmet Garden packet herbs which worked okay in the end)

30g sun-dried tomato in oil, drained

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 garlic clove, peeled

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

350g green beans, trimmed

1 can white beans, drained and rinsed

500g gnocchi

Put the oil, basil, sun-dried tomatoes, nutritional years, garlic, lemon juice and salt in a food processor and blend to a paste. Tip the almonds in and just pulse it all a couple of times - you want some decent sized almond bits for texture. 

Pop a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan and fry the green beans over med-high heat, turning occasionally, until they start to blister up. Add 3 tablespoons of water and pop a lid on the pan, cooking for another few minutes until they're nice and tender.

Cook the gnocchi as per the packet instructions, combine with the pesto, green beans and drained white beans and serve immediately.

Tahini & soya mince noodles with pickled radishes

March 8, 2025

   

Meera Sodha's vegan recipe column at The Guardian is becoming a staple of our research when we feel like cooking something new. Cindy bookemarked this really simple looking noodle dish and we made it a priority to give a try at home. It's really so straightforward - a perfect weeknight option, especially if you've got veggie mince and chilli bean sauce in your pantry. The tahini really makes this rich and savoury and you need a good portion of the tangy radishes to cut through (some chilli oil helps too). This is already in our regular rotation - you should add it to yours.

Tahini & soya mince noodles with pickled radishes

(based on this recipe from Meera Sodha's Guardian column)

1 bunch of radishes (~150g), trimmed and finely sliced

150ml rice vinegar

1 teaspoon caster sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 to 2/3 cup tahini

4 tablespoons chilli bean paste (e.g. this one)

1 tablepoon golden syrup

4 teaspoons sesame oil

4 tablespoons peanut oil (the original recipe has rapeseed oil here)

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced ginger

120g dried soy mince (usually sold as textured vegetable protein/tvp)

180g dried ramen noodles

toasted sesame seeds

Combine the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small saucepan and heat it up until the salt and sugar have dissolved. Pour the hot pickling liquid over the sliced radishes and leave in a bowl to cool.

In a different bowl stir together the chilli bean paste, tahini, syrup, sesame oil and a shake of salt and set aside.

Add the peanut oil to a frying pan and gently fry the garlic and ginger for a couple of minutes. Throw in the dried soy mince and stir for another few minutes, then add 350ml of water. Stir everything together for a few minutes until the water has been absorbed, then stir in the chilli bean/tahini sauce you made earlier and kill the heat.

Cook the noodles as per the packet instructions, drain and rinse and then toss through a glug of oil and stir them into your mince mix. 

Serve, topped with sesame seeds and pickled radishes.

Microwaved miso noodles

January 4, 2025

   

We had an 18-year break between microwaves, and just acquired a new one at the end of 2024. Johanna's post about microwaving udon noodles with miso and edamame arrived at the perfect moment, bringing together ingredients that we love to eat, all stored conveniently in the freezer and pantry and then heated in a matter of minutes. 

We ate our noodles with leftover sesame carrots and sliced satay tofu from the supermarket. Our primary adjustment was to use a little less miso as we found our first batch a bit too salty. There's plenty of flexibility in this recipe to throw in other frozen or leftover veges and sprinkle over seasonings - I'm sure we'll eat this recipe any number of ways throughout this year.

 

Microwaved miso noodles

(slightly adapted from a recipe we found on Green Gourmet Giraffe,

where it's credited to Okonomi Kitchen)

250g udon noodles, frozen or refrigerated

1/4 cup frozen edamame

1 scant tablespoon miso

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

1 teaspoon tamari

1 teaspoon golden or other sweet syrup

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

anything you might like to sprinkle over: sesame seeds, shichimi togarashi, fried shallots, etc

Place the noodles and edamame in a microwave-safe container with a lid and a vent to let out steam, and microwave for 2.5 minutes. Stir in the miso, butter, tamari, syrup and garlic and microwave for a further 2 minutes. Stir again and serve, sprinkled with whatever you like.

Chocolate tahini caramels

December 31, 2024

   

We saw in the new year with friends close by. The hosts were vegetarian and excellent cooks so we knew we'd be well fed and, as I often do, I thought I could best contribute by bringing something sweet. The guest list included dairy-free and gluten-free eaters and my mind swiftly turned to a chocolate tahini caramel recipe I'd bookmarked just a few weeks earlier.

The active preparation time looked pretty quick and I was so relaxed about it all that I took an afternoon nap and just barely allowed enough time for these sweets to set! The tahini caramel looks soft and smooth when poured into the loaf pan but it needs freezing to solidify and once that's achieved, it doesn't necessarily slice into neat little squares. I didn't mind odd little caramel shapes and trusted that my friends wouldn't, either. It's worth keeping the caramels in the freezer right until the last moment before coating them in chocolate, because they will melt - quick work is needed and then it's back into the freezer for a final set.

This is the one drawback of this treat - it's not stable at room temperature. These bites need to be carefully stored, ideally not touching each other, in the fridge or freezer until it's time to serve them. If you can manage that, there's much enjoyment to be had: a fudgy centre with a sweet, nutty flavour; a thin, silky layer of chocolate; and a bonus burst of texture from the sesame seeds on top. 

   

Chocolate tahini caramels

(slightly adapted from a recipe on Minimalist Baker)

2 tablespoons margarine

1/3 cup sweet syrup (e.g. maple, golden; I used brown sugar syrup)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup tahini

1 cup dark chocolate chips

sesame seeds, for garnishing

Line a loaf pan with baking paper. Place the margarine, syrup, vanilla and salt in a small saucepan and set it over medium heat. Whisk the mixture as you bring it to the boil. Turn off the heat and whisk in the tahini. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and freeze for 1-2 hours, until solid.

When the caramel is solid, line a tray that will fit into your freezer with baking paper. Melt the chocolate using your preferred method. Retrieve the caramel from the freezer and slice it into bite-sized squares (as you can see from the photos above, my bite-sized chunks weren't always square). Use a teaspoon and a fork to swiftly drop one caramel at a time into the melted chocolate, coat it on all sides, and transfer it to the tray. Repeat with all the caramel bites. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the caramels and lightly press them into the top of the chocolate. Pop the chocolates back into the freezer for 30-45 minutes.

After serving, store any uneaten caramels in the fridge or freezer.

Caramelised garlic, zucchini & butter beans

October 24, 2024

   

Cindy keeps a pretty good list of recipes bookmarked from around the internet, and remembered this one when we had a few key ingredients aging in the fridge. It's very, very simple to make and the pay off is a nice, messy dish of veggies, beans and sauce that really does cry out for accompanying fresh bread to sop things up. A very satisfying weeknight meal that was surprisingly rich - I guess miso, olive oil, wine and garlic are a pretty hearty combination of ingredients. This makes a pretty scant four meals, so we had some lunchy leftovers out of it, but it's not going to fill the freezer for the week. 

Caramelised garlic, zucchini & butter beans

(based on this recipe from Meera Sodha's Guardian column)

500g zucchinis, cut into rough bite-sized pieces

6 tablespoons olive oil

6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

150ml white wine

2 tablespoons white miso

800g butter beans, undrained

1 lemon, zested and juiced

small bunch parsley, leaves chopped

small bunch mint, leaves chopped

salt

Put a couple of tablespoons of oil into a frying pan on high heat and fry the zucchini, turning occasionally until they're golden, almost charred. Sprinkle with salt and set aside.

Put the rest of the oil in the same pan and fry the garlic for a couple of minutes until it's started to go golden. Add the wine and miso and stir the mix together so that it's smooth. Add the beans with their liquid and simmer for 10-15 minutes until you've got the texture you want - a bit liquidy, but you want it to have thickened up a bit.

Stir in the zucchini, lemon zest and juice and simmer for another minute. Kill the heat and stir through the herbs. Serve, with bread.

Sautéed rhubarb & fior di latte dressed in peppercorn oil

October 5, 2024

   

Here's the final component of our Ottolenghi grilling trilogy. This one's my favourite of the bunch and it actually hit the cast iron pan as intended. Sections of rhubarb are set on high heat just long enough to soften and char, then they're dressed with ginger honey, layered with big chunks of fior di latte, scattered with basil leaves and finished with peppercorn oil. It's tangy and creamy up against each other, shot through with sweetness and spice. I think I'd be as happy eating this for dessert as I was working it into my main meal!

Sautéed rhubarb & fior di latte dressed in peppercorn oil

(slightly adapted from a recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi in The Guardian)

400g rhubarb, trimmed and sliced on the diagonal into 4-5cm lengths

350g fior di latte, burrata or other fresh, milky cheese, drained and roughly torn into large pieces

10g basil leaves

peppercorn oil

1 teaspoon peppercorns

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes

flaked sea salt

2 tablespoons oil

ginger honey

90ml runny honey

15g fresh ginger, peeled and julienned

Using a mortar and pestle, lightly crush together the peppercorns, coriander seeds, chilli flakes, and a pinch of salt. Heat the oil in a small saucepan and then add the crushed spices. Cook them for just 30 seconds, then pour the spices and oil together into a small heat-proof bowl or jar. Clean the saucepan.

Set the small saucepan back over medium heat, adding the honey, ginger, a splash of water and a pinch of salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and set aside.

Set a cast iron pan over high heat. When it's hot, add the rhubarb in batches, cooking until just charred and softened and then setting aside in a bowl as you go. When they're all done, stir through about half of the honey mixture.

To serve, layer up the torn fior di latte and rhubarb pieces. Drizzle over the honey, scatter the basil leaves on top, and finally drizzle with the peppercorn oil.