5 Minute Food Fix

Yumi is going back to her mother's country with this particular culinary love affair.

Zenzai is the name for Adzuki Beans when they're cooked and sweetened, but still hold their beany shape. There's fantastic info about it on this website which is particularly helpful if you love cooking Japanese food!

Sweetened beans can be a weird concept if you're not accustomed to it - but give it a chance, it's extremely digestible and l...

Borrowing heavily from Maggie Beer's famous recipe for SOUR CREAM PASTRY, Yumi gets super-inspired in the kitchen and devises a PIE RECIPE for the ages.

SMOKED ALMOND PASTRY

In a food processor, mix 240g plain flour with 30g smoked almonds. Add in 160g chilled, cubed butter and whizz for 20 seconds.

Add in 125g sour cream, and 40g of olive oil and whizz together for 30-50 seconds, until the dough forms a ball.

Get the dough up out ...

Simon is STOKED with the new season's lemons.

For this stunning (and achievable) spoon-on-everything sauce:

CHOP ONE LEMON very well, flicking out the seeds as you go until it's almost like a paste

chop through a small bunch of parsley,

2tbs drained capers

loosen everything up with 1/3 - 1/2 cup olive oil

sweeten with a tiny bit of sugar or honey

and a fat pinch of salt

Serve on fish --- or listen for our next episode!

Yumi can't let go of trying to perfect a recipe from The Regional Italian Cookbook. Even though it demands we use a cheese that is impossible to find in Australia.

SHE IS DELIGHTED to report that she's cracked the nut! It can be done!

And is predictably delicious!

Grease with butter a 23cm cake tin and drizzle with olive oil.

Pre-heat the oven.

Run 1kg of peeled potatoes through a grater.

Put the potato "noodles" in a colander and ri...

Yumi gets excited to be tasked with the responsibility of cooking a cake big enough to feed a crowd, that is stable enough to take to the beach.

It uses Nagi's 'My Very Best Vanilla Cake' - which is dead-set reliable and brilliant.

A couple of variations: I cook it in a 28 x 35 roasting tin which I line with baking paper and give a light spray with cooking oil.

I also always use coconut oil (the runny, liquid kind) as the oil in t...

Unfortunately I missed the opportunity to interrogate Simon on him putting a shot of coffee into his BOLOGNESE - please feel free to email your horror reaction to foodfixemail@gmail.com

SIMON'S SUPER STEAK COFFEE RUB

1-2 tbs finely ground coffee

1 tbs brown sugar

1tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp salt

Combine the ingredients - it's ready for a couple of big steaks.

TO COOK:

Remember to dry off your steak before you do anything!

Then ru...

One of Simon's cookbooks has gone to #1 in Australia for the past fortnight.

It's called The Weekly Grocery Shop and you can buy it here.

The idea kind of inspired Yumi to make croutons (again). This time using an innovation borne of necessity. But they're REALLY GOOD!

Pre-heat your oven to 150C and find the biggest trays you have.

Take one stale sourdough baguette and slice into the thinnest possible rounds.

Lay out the pieces ...

Simon's amazingly healthful and generous Chicken Soup *IS* pretty winning. He tries to massage my competitive gland by telling me Kate Brown (from my book publisher) prefers HIS soup recipe to mine... HOWEVER IT'S UNTESTED and THEY'RE VERY DIFFERENT!

Warm 1tbs oil in a big pot.

Add 4 finely sliced garlic cloves.

Add a thumb of finely grated ginger and 2 tsp ground turmeric. Cook til smelling fancy.

Add in 500g chicken thighs and

3/4...

Why DO people cook sweets with vegetables?

Are they trying to use up a glut?

Trick the people they care about into eating more veg?

OR - does it genuinely work as a flavour add-in?

Today we dive into BUNDT cakes, how they go wrong, and we get specific with a Lemon and Zucchini Bundt Cake that is surprisingly easy, lasts well and uses up your dirty gourds!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...

Yumi is drawn to a book called The Regional Italian Cookbook but hits some speed humps in trying to make the perfect Potato Cake.

Can you pronounce Spressa delle Giudicarie?

In this episode you can hear Yumi make multiple attempts to say the name of the cheese, which we were unable to find (email us if you know where to get it! foodfixemail@gmail.com )

Grease with butter a 23cm cake tin and drizzle with olive oil.

Pre-hea...

Simon is full of inspiration and new information about PEPPER.

So he's got a lovely recipe for a WHITE PEPPER CHICKEN CONGEE.

Rinse a cup of Jasmine rice.

Add it to a pot with 7 cups of chicken stock, 1 chicken breast and 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely chopped.

Simmer gently for 45 minutes until the rice breaks down.

Remove the chicken breast from the pot and shred it to go back into the congee. Season well with salt and ...

'Cacio e Pepe' is having a moment - but Simon has a fantastic spin on the idea that makes it a great dish for ONE (*side eye Yumi*) and cuts the amount of carbs.

Use one jar of fancy white beans, drain and cook up in a half cup or so of stock with a big knob of butter. Warm it up and then add a generous fistful of Pecorino cheese and a MASSIVE grind of freshly ground black pepper. (Be like Simon - or don't! - and get the best, m...

What is a Tarka? Simon explains and there's a really good picture of what it looks like on top of a daal here.

CASHEW SPICE TARKA

1/4 cashews

1 tbs ginger

2 sprigs curry leaves

1/4 tsp nigella seeds

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

Meera Sodha's

1 tsp cumin seed

1 tsp mustard seed

1 long green chilli

curry leaves, all fried in smoking hot oil

QUICK NO-FRY BASIC RED LENTIL DAAL

1 small Spanish onion, thinly sliced

1 small fennel bulb, thinly sl...

I won't name the restaurant because it's gorgeous and fantastic and deserves every success!

JATZ CRACKERS CHICKEN

Marinate chicken tenders or thigh fillets cut into strips in Greek yoghurt with a pinch of salt.

Blitz the Jatz Crackers to form a crumb.

Coat the chicken in the crumbs.

Air fry for 15 mins.

To cook in the oven? Lightly spray with oil and bake on a tray (spread out) for 10-15mins, 200C.

On this episode, Simon reveals just how much he listens to Yumi's work on Double J, and reminisces about when his kids were so little he had to make lots of tray-bakes, because they're very "set-and-forget" - allowing one to get on with the very hands-on work of parenting!

ONE TRAY SALMON (or other fish) BAKE

Pre-heat the oven to 220C.

Rub a family sized salmon fillet with dijon mustard, oil, salt and pepper.

Chop a fennel bulb int...

Simon is very caffeinated and VERY stoked with his new coffee machine.

What could he possibly use coffee in - for cooking?

The obvious answer is TIRAMISU. Both your hosts have extensive experience making this dessert - - and Simon has some key DOs and DON'T when it comes to nailing it.

Here's Nagi's recipe...

Here's Simon's:

Serves 10-12

6 eggs , yolks and whites separated

1cup (220g) caster sugar (superfine sugar)

1 tsp vanilla ex...

Who DOESN'T adore a linguine or spaghetti - with prawns?

It's one of my favourites (Yumi) and it's been a goal of mine this year to figure out the best recipe for making it at home. For myself. Cos - yum.

COMBINING marinated prawns with THIS RECIPE FOR SPAGHETTI ALLA ASSASINA is a bit of a cheat... but if you love chilli...and black pepper...and prawns... This is going to be a winner!

I used 150g of prawn tail meat per serve, ...

Apparently we’re in our Freezer Girl Era now – – and yes, I know I’m a boy. But this trend?

I’m fully on board. It’s about filling your freezer with little things that make weeknight cooking feel like you actually have your life together.

This isn’t bulk meal prep. This is freezer magic – a stash of flavour bombs and shortcuts that save you mid-week.

Here’s what’s in my current rotation:

 Flavoured butters: mix butter with garlic ...