Maple-Soy Chicken Wings and Vietnamese Salad

Maple-Soy Chicken Wings (serves 6)
24 chicken wings (you can do more - I make 4 large chicken wings per person)
1/2 cup of soy
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1 tbsp of grated ginger
1 tsp of chilli flakes
2 tbsp of chinese rice wine

1. Mix up all the above besides the rice wine and allow wings to marinate overnight. Stir a couple of times while marinating if you have a chance.
2. Pre-heat oven to 180C (lower if fan forced).
3. Spread wings in a single layers on some foil covered (this helps later with cleaning!) baking trays. Reserve the marinade.
4. Bake the wings for an hour. I find it helps to increase the temperature a bit for the last ten minutes or turn the fan forced oven on so that they crisp up.
5. While the wings are cooking put the marinade in a small saucepan. Add the chinese rice wine. Bring to the boil and put on a high simmer until reduced. Make sure it is boiling or simmering fast so that you kill any bacteria in it.
6. Serve the wings with the thickened marinade and hoy sin sauce (for those that aren't so keen on chilli).

Vietnamese Salad (serves 10)
2 carrots, julienned
2 cucumbers, julienned
1/2 wombok, hard centre removed and finely sliced
1 bunch coriander, roughly chopped
1 bunch chives, chopped
1 bunch mint, roughly chopped
300g vermicelli rice noodles - cooked according to instructions and chopped a little with scissors

Nuoc Cham (Minus the garlic) made using this recipe as a dressing

1. Toss together the salad ingredients and the Nuoc Cham.
2. Serve with maple-soy wings

Variations -
This salad would be good served with a hot roast chicken from the supermarket if you are in a hurry.
You could also serve it with deep fried tofu for a vegetarian alternative

Cream of Sweet Potato Soup

2 large sweet potatoes, diced
2 litres of stock (I used reconstituted massell chicken stock cubes)
1 carrot, diced
1 stick of celery, diced
1/4 cup of dry sherry
1 small tub of light cream
2 tablespoons of dried chives


1. Sautee the carrot and celery in a pan until soft and a little brown at the edges.
2. Deglaze the pan with sherry being sure to get all the brown bits up.
3. Add the stock and potatoes. Bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer.
4. Simmer uncovered until potatoes have begun to fall apart.
5. Add the cream and chives. Blend. Season to taste.

Pea and Bacon Soup

2 cups of split peas
2 litres of stock (I use reconstituted massel cubes)
2 potatoes
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stick, diced
1/4 cup of dry sherry
2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons of dried chives

6 rashers of bacon, diced

1. Sautee the carrot and celery in a pan until soft and a little brown at the edges.
2. Deglaze the pan with sherry being sure to get all the brown bits up.
3. Add carrot and celery mix, stock, potatoes, lentils and bay leaves to a slow cooker. Cook on whichever setting you prefer until lentils are soft.
4. Remove the bay leaves. Add the chives. Blend.
5. Fry off bacon until crispy. Add to soup or, for vegetarian option, serve on the side.

Vegetarian Quesadillas

Serves 4

Salsa

1 can of crushed tomatoes

1 clove of garlic (leave out if sensitive but this sauce is HOT so there is very little garlic per serve)

1 tablespoon of ginger, grated

1 tablespoon of hot hot hot chilli sauce (I use this one which has a nice a smoky flavour)

2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

1/2bunch of coriander, chopped

2 tablespoons of dried chives

1 tsp of smoke flavour

Guacamole (people sensitive to polyols may wish to omit this)

2 avocados, mashed

1 lime, juiced

3 teaspoons of tobacco sauce

Quesadillas

10, corn tortillas (look for Woolworth's Brand or Diego's)

1 large capsicum, diced

1 can of corn, drained and rinsed

1/2 bunch of coriander, finely chopped

1 lime, juiced

1 bag of spinach

1 cup tasty cheese

1 cup mozzarella cheese

Salsa

1. Heat a little olive oil in a medium sized pot. Sautee the garlic and ginger. Add the tomatoes, vinegar, smoke flavour and hot sauce. Reduce. When thickened add the chives and coriander. Blend. Cool in the fridge.

Guacamole

2. Mix ingredients together. Season to taste

Quesadillas

3. Place corn, capsicum, coriander, spinach and cheese on one tortilla. Top with another like a sandwich.

4. Heat fry pan to hot. Place quesadilla in the pan. Weigh down with something (e.g. a another heavy based pan). When browned underneath, turn over with a spatula. Remove when cheese melted.

5. Serve with guacamole and salsa.

NOTE: If you are sensitive to the guacamole or the sauce you can just leave these out. I find that you use so little (about 1 tablespoon of guacamole and 2 teaspoons of salsa) over the whole meal that it's fine. 

VARIATION: Serve also with some greek yoghurt.

Cauliflower and Broccoli Pasta Bake

1 x 500g packet of gluten free penne

1 head of brocolli, roughly chopped

1 head of cauli flower, roughly chopped

6 anchovies

1 tsp of dried thyme

3 dried chillies, crumbled

1 can of crushed tomatoes

1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar

salt

pepper

1 cup of parmesan cheese

1 tbsp of butter

1 tbsp of flour (Gluten free if sensitive)

500 mls of milk

1/2 tsp of nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 200C 

2. Heat one pot of salted boiling water and a vegetable steamer to boiling.

3. Put vegetables in the vegie steamer. Remove when just soft through. Set aside to cool a little.

4. Put pasta in salted water. Cook until just before al dente (if you over cook it the pasta bake won't have any structure). Drain, set aside.

5. While the pasta and vegies are cooking make up a white sauce using half the cheese - melt butter, add flour, cook for one minute, slowly add milk while whisking. whisk until thickening, add cheese and nutmeg and whisk further. Season to taste. Set aside.

5. Chop up the vegetables into bite sized pieces. In a fry pan, fry up anchovies, thyme and chillies in a little olive oil. Add the vegetables. Coat with olive oil and spice mix. Fry until a little browned.

6. To construct pasta bake. Empty can of tomatos into a baking dish/casserol dish. Add the vinegar to taste. Add the pasta and veggies a little at a time so mixed. Cover with white sauce. Sprinkle with remaining parmesan.

7. Bake until brown on top.

8. Serve with salad

Variations - Add some pinenuts to last minute of frying veggies off. 

Spanakopita Pie

2 x 250g packets of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of water

1 bunch of dill, finely chopped

1/2 bunch of parsley, finely chopped

1 bunch of chives, finely chopped

500g of low fat ricotta

250 g of low fat feta, crumbled

1 tsp of nutmeg

1 tbsp of lemon zest

1 egg

1 tbsp of melted butter

1/2 packet of filo pastry* 

1. Pre heat oven to 180C

2. Mix together the spinach, herbs, cheese, nutmeg, lemon zest and egg. Season with salt and pepper. You should end up with a smooth creamy mix.

3. Brush baking tin or casserol dish with better. Line with two layers of filo leaving a little pastry overhanging around the edges. Brush with butter. 

4. Place spinach mix in the lined tin. Cover the top with two more layers of filo brushed with butter. Fold over the overhanding edges.

5. Bake in oven until golden brown on top (20-30 minutes).

* Filo pastry does contain wheat but because it a very thin pastry and you only use a small amount, each slice of pie includes relatively little wheat (as compared to regular pastry in a pie). I don't find this small amount of wheat to be a problem. People who are very sensitive to wheat could use gluten free puff pastry or they could add 2 extra eggs and do without the pastry altoether. This would make a spinach fritatta rather than a pie.

Salmon with Wilted Asian Greens

Serves 1

• 1 Salmon Fillet, brushed both sides with olive oil
• 1 handful of chinese broccolli, stalks cut from leaves
• 1 tsp of grated ginger
• 2 tsp of soy sauce
• 1 tsp of sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp of brown sugar
• 1 tsp of sesame seeds

1. Bring a pot of water to the boil. Mix ginger, soy, oil and sugar together.
2. Heat fry pan until hot and add salmon fillet, skin down. Cook for 2-3mins then turn and cook to your liking. If it is a particularly thick piece of salmon you may find it necessary to cover the pan and cook longer on a low heat - this will help prevent the fish from getting dry.
3. When the salmon is cooked through, set it aside. Add the broccolli stalks to the boiling water. After 1 minute add the leaves. 30 seconds later drain the lot.
4. Put the greens in the bottom of a shallow bowl, top with the salmon. Sprinkle with the dressing and sesame seeds. Serve with boiled rice or mashed sweet potatoes.

Bi Bim Bap

Serves 2 - 3

• 1 cup of white rice
• 1 large zuchinni, julienne sliced
• 1 cup bean shoots
• 1 carrot, julienne sliced
• soy sauce
• sesame oil
• egg

Sauce

• 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp miso paste
• 2 tbsp sambal oelek

1. Cook the rice.
2. Mix together sauce ingredients to taste (the miso cuts the chilli factor down a lot so adding or reducing the miso alters the heat).
3. Put bean shoots in a pot of water with a little salt. Bring to boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
4. Stir fry the zucchini in a little sesame oil and soy sauce. Set aside.
5. Stir fry the carrot. Set aside.
6. Place the rice in two bowls. Top with the vegetables in little piles.
7. Fry an egg, sunny side up. Place on top of vegetables. Add sauce.
8. Serve, Stir, Eat.

Alternatives: 

Baked: if you have access to a hot pot that can go in the oven it is worth baking the dish.  Prepare up to step 5. Put rice in a lightly oiled hot pot. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Add the vegetables and top with the cracked egg egg and cook for a further 5 minutes until the egg is just set. Serve in the hotpot if possible.

Cheese: Adding some cheese before putting the vegetables on the rice is a nice addition (not very authentic but nice). A mild cheese is best. This is particularly good if baking the dish as the rice and cheese get nice and crispy.

Meat: you can include meat if you want. Cut finely, marinate in soy sauce. Stir fry and add some sesame seeds at the last minute.

Spicy Cumin Beef Stir Fry

Serves 2

• 250g beef finely sliced across the grain (you can use any beef steak - I used chuck and it was not chewy at all because of the marinade and searing)
• 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp corn flour
• 1 long red chilli finely chopped
• 1 red or yellow capsicum large dice
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp of dried chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp of peanut oil
• 1 clove minced garlic (you can omit this if sensitive)
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• 1 tbsp of finely chopped chives
• 1 tsp of sesame oil

1. Mix the soy and cornflour together. Add beef and leave for 30mins - 1 hour.
2. Heat oil in wok. When very hot and smoking add the beef in batches. Sear the outside of the beef, remove from pan and drain on paper towel.
3. When the beef is done, drain any remaining oil from pan and add the sesame oil. Stir fry the remaining ingredients except the chives. When fragrant (about 1 min) add the beef back into the pan. Stir fry until capsicum is cooked. Be careful not to burn the cumin.
4. Add the chives and season with more chilli flakes to taste. Serve hot with rice or noodles.

Source: this is a slightly modified version of this recipe from the NY Times.

Pasta with Smoked Salmon and Broccoli

This is a one-pot wonder meal that I really like because it is so quick and tasty. It is also surprisingly light.

Makes 1 fairly large serve.

• 3/4 cup of brocolli small broccoli florets*
• 1 cup GF pasta spirals
• 1/2 tbsp of capers finely chopped
• 1 tsp of finely chopped chives
• 1/2 tsp of lemon zest
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 tbsp of grated parmesan
• 1 tbsp of creme fraiche or cream
• 50g of smoked salmon ripped into smaller pieces (you could use either the cold smoked or hot smoked kind)

1. Put a large pot of water on to boil. Add the GF pasta. When about 1-2 minutes from cooked add the broccoli.
2. When pasta is cooked, drain the pasta/broccoli it and add the remaining ingredients except the salmon. Put on a low heat. Stir.
3. When the creme fraiche, juice and cheese have combined to make a sauce, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the salmon. Serve.

Alternatives: Substitute the basil or dill for the chives.

* I have recently heard that broccoli can be a problem for people with fructose malabsorption. If this is you use rocket or green beans instead of the broccoli. If using rocket, add it at step 3 when adding the salmon.

Spicy Chorizo with Pippies and Prawns

Serves 2

1 small stick of spicy chorizo (I actually prefer using Hot Hungarian Csabai) sliced
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 clove garlic (depending on tolerance), crushed
1 long red chilli, finely diced
2 tomatoes, de-seeded and diced
2 tbsp of dry sherry
2 tbsp of continental parsley, finely chopped
1 lemon, cut into quarters
1/2kg of pippies
6 king prawns (peeled or unpeeled, whatever suits you)

1. Heat oil in pan. Fry off chorizo until crispy. Remove with tongs and drain on paper towel. Keep oil (it has lots of nice flavour from the sausage).
2. Add the pippies, garlic, chilli, paprika, tomatoes and sherry. Toss and put lid on pan. Periodically shake pan and stir pippies.
3. When the pippies are mostly open, add prawns. As soon as prawns are cooked add the parsley and stir. Serve with lemon.

Serving suggestion - Brown rice or crusty bread (gluten free) with some rocket on the side.
Alternatives - You could leave out the prawns altogether. You could also use scallops instead of pippies and prawns but this would mean you cook at step 2 only very briefly.

Fattoush

• 1 cucumber, finely sliced with a mandolin
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 125g greek style fetta, crumbled
• 2 roma tomatoes, de-seeded and diced
• 1/2 cup herbs (mind, coriander, continental parsley)
• 1 colve garlic
• 2 large slices of FF oat bread
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1tsp sumac
• 2 cups, butter lettuce
• 1 tbsp olive oil

1. Sprinkle salt on cucumber slices and set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Rinse salt off cucumber in a mesh strainer and squeeze as much water as you can out of it.
3. Add vinegar, stir. Sit for 15 minutes.
4. Add fetta, tomato and sumac to cucumber and set aside.
5. Brush bread with olive oil and grill. Rub with garlic.
6. Mix herbs, lettuce and tomato/cucumber mix with lemon juice.
7. Rib up bread and add to top of salad just before serving so still crunchy.

Thai Beef Salad

Serves 1

• 200g beef sirloin
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• handful of baby spinach
• 1/2 red capsicum, sliced finely
• handful or bean sprouts
• 1 tbsp, finely chopped chives
• 1 tbsp, coriander, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp, mint, roughly chopped

Dressing:

• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 tsp fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 birdseye chilli diced finely

1.   Heat BBQ or heavy based fry pan.
2. Brush meat with oil and season. Cook for 3-4 minutes each side.
3. Transfer to a plate to rest for 10-15 minutes.
4. Mix together dressing ingredients and set aside.
5. Mix remaining ingredients in a serving bowl. Thinly slice beef and place on top of salad. Pour dressing over. Serve.

Pumpkin Risotto

Serves 4

• 1/2 butternut pumpkin, diced
• 1tsp olive oil
• 2 cups of arborio rice
• 1L chicken stock, hot
• 1 cup of dry white wine
• 1 tbsp of parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp of chives, finely chopped
• 1 cup of parmesan
• 1/2 clove of garlic

1. Preheat oven to 220C. Lightly brush base of a baking tray with olive oil. Spread pumpkin over it and put in oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until soft and a little brown.
2. Heat the rest of the oil and sautee garlic and then rice for 2 minutes. Add the wine. Cook until reduced.
3. Slowly add hot stock 1/2 a cup at a time, stirring and waiting for each bit to reduce until adding more.
4. When rice is soft and stock absorbed. Set aside for five minutes.
5. Add herbs and cheese to taste (you will not need all the parmesan).
6. Serve with remaining parmesan and a green salad.

Vegetarian Stir Fry

Serves: 4

• 1 red capsicum, diced
• 1 zucchini, cut in half and then sliced to 0.5cm
• 1 bunch broccolini, cut into 3cm sticks, set the stalks aside from the heads
• 1 carrot, diced to 1cm cubed and blanched in boiling water for 5mins then drained.
• 2cm of ginger, finely sliced into batons
• 1 small clove of garlic finely diced (you could use garlic flavoured oil when cooking the vegetables instead of fresh garlic)
• 1tsp of fish sauce
• 1 tsp of soy sauce
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1 tbsp of lime or lemon juice
• 1 birds-eye chilli, de-seeded and finely diced
• 1 handful of fresh coriander leaves
• 4 eggs very lightly beaten
• vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp of peanut oil

1. Mix fish sauce, soy, sugar, juice and chilli. Set aside.
2. In a wok or large fry pan heat up sufficient vegetable oil to fill to 1cm. When very hot, pour in the egg. Swirl in the pan to make an omelette. Turn when brown on bottom. When cooked, remove from oil onto a paper towel.
3. Empty pan of oil and reheat dry pan. Return omelette to pan to crisp upon both sides. Remove, roll, slice into ribbons and set aside.
4. Heat up peanut oil in pan. When very hot add the carrots and broccolini stalks. Fry for 2 mins. Add 1tbsp of hot water and place lid on pan until it has steamed off and vegetables are just soft.
5. Add remaining vegetables and stir fry until cooked and a little blackened.
6. Add sauce, egg and coriander. Taste and adjust the sauce seasonings (the fish sauce and juice can vary in their flavour so the measurements above are a guide only).

Fried Rice

Serves 6

• 3 cups of cooked brown rice (preferably cooked the night before)
• 1 red capsicum, diced
• 1 green capsicum, diced
• 1 carrot, diced (cooked with a little water in microwave for 3 minutes, drain)
• 1/2 cup of corn kernels (you could use fresh, canned or frozen)
• 4 eggs, very lightly beaten
• 2 birds-eye chilli, de-seeded and finely sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 2 cm of ginger, finely grated
• 2tbsp of light soy
• 1 bunch of chives, finely chopped
• 1 handful of finely chopped coriander (optional)
• 1/2 tbsp of sesame oil
• 1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil
• vegetable oil

1. In a wok or large fry pan heat up sufficient vegetable oil to fill to 1cm. When very hot, pour in the egg. Swirl in the pan to make an omelette. Turn when brown on bottom. When cooked, remove from oil onto a paper towel.
2. Empty pan of oil and reheat dry pan. Return omelette to pan to crisp upon both sides. Remove, roll, slice into ribbons and set aside.
3. Heat up the sesame and vegetable oil until hot. Add vegetables and toss. When they are cooked and a little brown at the edges add the rice.
4. Toss until a little browned. Add soy, herbs and omelette and toss together. Adjust soy to taste.

Alternatives:  The vegetables here can be varied as you wish (I usually make it from left over odds and sods). Broccolini is a good for example. You could also also add some meat for a non-vegetarian version - lap cheong chinese sausage, bacon and chicken are all good. It is best to fry it separately and add towards the end. Some prawns could also be added towards the end of cooking.

Potato Salad

Serves 4

• 8 med potatoes (you could use 16 cocktail potatoes), washed and quartered
• 1 tbsp of greek yogurt (you could use cream or sour cream)
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tsp of dijon mustard
• 1/2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tbsp of capers, finely chopped
• 1tbsp chives, finely chopped
• 2 rashers of bacon, diced

1. Place potatoes in a shallow microwave safe dish with 1/2tsp of water. Cover with plastic film and microwave on high 2 minutes at a time until just cooked (takes 4-6 minutes).
2. While potatoes are cooking fry the bacon until crispy and shake all other ingredients together in a jar for dressing. Season and adjust ingredients in the dressing to taste.
3. Mix cooked potatoes, dressing and bacon thoroughly. 
4. Refrigerate and serve cold.

Frittata

Serves 3 - 4 for a light meal

• 1 red capsicum, diced small
• 1 zucchini, diced small
• 4 rashers of bacon, diced
• 2 birds-eye chillies, deseeded and finely diced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed (you could use garlic oil instead)
• 2 med-large desiree potatoes, washed and diced
• 4 eggs
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp diced chives
• 1/2 cup of grated tasty cheese

1. Pre-heat grill.
2. Put potatoes in a microwave safe bowl, covered with glad wrap and microwave for 3 minutes or until just soft.
3. Heat oil in a large non-stick fry pan. Add potatoes, bacon, garlic, zucchini, capsicum and chilli. Fry off on high heat until potatoes start to show some colour.
4. Sprinkle over the chives and the cheese evenly. Pour eggs on top. Tilt pan to make sure eggs have spread around the whole pan.
5. Let cook for 5 minutes on high.
6. Place pan under grill (if a plastic handled pan, be careful not to melt it!) until browned on top.
7. Serve with a green salad and some crusty bread

Alternatives: You could substitute some FF chorizo sausage for the bacon for a more authentic spanish taste.

Beef Chilli

Serves 4

• 500g blade steak - cut into 2cm cubes
• 1 carrot - finely diced
• 2 sticks celery - finely diced
• 1/2 jar Masterfoods Mexican Spices (a mixture of cummin, sweet paprika, chilli, tumeric)
• 1tsp smoked paprika
• 1tsp hot sauce (I use tabasco sauce)
• 2 capsicums, diced
• 1 cup of canned kidney beans
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 500 ml beef stock (I use Massell brand)
• 250 ml crushed tomatoes
• 1 bunch Coriander, ripped up
• 1 lime, juiced
• greek yogurt/sour cream to serve

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Sautee the carrot and celery. Reduce heat and sweat until soft.

2. Add meat and the spices. Stir until combined and meat a little brown. Add tomatoes, hot sauce, beef stock and beans.

3. Bring to boil, and then reduce heat to simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add extra water if needed.

4. When meat is falling apart, add capsicums. Cook for a further 20 minutes on low.

5. The dish can be set aside at this point if needed.

6. Just before serving add coriander and lime. Serve with rice and Greek yogurt on the side. 

Alternatives: you could use this mixture in tacos or burritos (using corn tortillas).