Stir Fried Broccoli With Shallot, Chilli And Nigella Seeds

It’s always handy to have another way for prepping broccoli in our house. I love this with dal for our vegetarian nights, served with rice and gluten free flat breads.

You need to break the broccoli down into tiny florets but keep all of the stalks, I use them for soup the next day!

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

2 teaspoons oil

2 heads of broccoli, broken into mini florets

1 large shallot, finely sliced

1 red chilli sliced

1 teaspoon nigella seeds

Pinch salt

Method

Heat a large frying pan or wok over high heat.

Add the oil and once hot, add the broccoli, shallot and chilli.

Stir fry for 5-7 minutes until shallot is soft and the broccoli still has some crunch to it.

Season with salt and sprinkle over the nigella seeds.

Baked Pumpkin With Black Sesame Seeds And Thyme

It’s pumpkin season here in Western Australia and I love this way of baking it, it just looks so pretty!

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

1/2 large butternut pumpkin, peeled and seeded

1-2 teaspoons oil

2 teaspoons black sesame seeds

1 teaspoon dried thyme

Salt flakes

Pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.

Slice the pumpkin and then cut into chunks.

In a bowl, combine the pumpkin and oil.

Spread the pumpkin over the prepared tin.

Sprinkle over the sesame seeds, thyme, salt flakes and pepper.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until cooked through and colouring a little.

Sultana Rice With Quinoa

This is a nice sneaky way of getting quinoa into the kids without them really noticing due to the sultanas and nigella seeds!

It would take a great deal of patience for a fussy child to pick the quinoa out and my boys loved the sweetness of the sultanas so never really noticed anything else!

Serves 4.

Ingredients

50g butter or oil

1 large onion, peeled and sliced

1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced

A pinch of chilli flakes

100g basmati rice, washed and drained

70g white quinoa, washed and drained

25g red quinoa, washed and drained

75g sultanas

400mls water

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

2 teaspoons nigella seeds

Method

In a lidded pan, heat the butter over high heat and then add the onion, cook until beginning to colour.

Reduce the heat and add the chilli and garlic, cook for one minute.

Now add the rice, both quinoa and sultanas, stir to coat.

Pour in the water and season.

Cover. Bring the pan up to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 20 minutes, do not remove the lid!

Turn the heat off, leave the lid on and let sit for ten minutes.

Remove the lid and stir in half of the nigella seeds and the parsley.

Spoon into a warmed serving plate and sprinkle over the remaining seeds.

Sausage Meatballs With Broccoli Cheese

Who doesn’t love an easy tray bake dinner! Less meat and more veggies but my boys don’t seem to notice!

I like to use spicy Italian sausages for this but use whatever you enjoy. If you are doing gluten free, just double check your sausage ingredients.

Serves 3-4.

Ingredients

450g spicy Italian pork sausages

1 broccoli head, florets cut off and stem peeled and sliced

250mls cream

50g grated cheese

Salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

Peel the skin off the sausages and form into balls.

Place the meatballs in the roasting tin and slide into the oven.

Bake for 10minutes until beginning to colour.

Add the broccoli florets and stems to the roasting tin, return to the oven for 8-10 minutes.

Now pour the cream into the roasting tin and sprinkle over the cheese and seasoning.

Bake for 15-20minutes until cream has thickened and cheese is golden.

Roast Chicken With Maple Syrup and Mustard

When I made this recently I stupidly left all of the chicken on the dinner table without saving some for myself, my three boys and a friend ate the lot so it must be good!

Serves 4-6 depending on sides and appetites!

Ingredients

2.4kg chicken, cut into 10pieces or chicken pieces, skin on and bone in

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Centigrade.

Combine the syrup, mustard, salt and pepper and then pour onto the chicken, covering it completely.

Place the chicken pieces, skin side up on the roasting tin.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, basting regularly until cooked through and crispy.

Chicken With Salami

Some nights you just need something quick that uses up what’s in the fridge.

This concoction is great popped on top of a big salad.

I’ve used a felino salami here but just use any salami that you enjoy eating.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

800g diced chicken, breast of thighs

200g salami, finely diced

1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges

Pinch chilli flakes

Salt and pepper

100g baby spinach

Method

Heat a large, non stick pan over medium heat.

Once hot, add the salami and fry until the fat begins to render. Now add the onion and cook until just beginning to soften.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the salami and onion from the pan and set aside.

Turn the heat up to high and add the chicken, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the chilli flakes.

Cook until the chicken is golden and cooked through.

Return the salami and onion to the pan, stir through.

Add the spinach to the pan and stir through, as soon as it wilts serve.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Rub

It’s always handy to have a rub recipe up your sleeve!

This is one of my favourites, not too spicy and the boys love the sweetness.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon oregano, rubbed

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon chipotle chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Freshly ground pepper

2kgs chicken wings, tips removed

Method

Combine all of the rub ingredients together.

Sprinkle the rub over all of the chicken and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Centigrade and line a baking tray with parchment.

Place the wings in the prepared tin, skin side up.

Bake for 60 minutes, basting regularly.

Tandoori Flavoured Whole Baked Cauliflower

I know that making the paste might sound like a bit of a faff but I highly recommend that you give it a go, the colour is amazing and it really makes the humble cauliflower a bit of a star turn.

Obviously liquid smoke doesn’t have a place in Indian cuisine, so I apologise in advance, but, it does give you a fab, just out of the tandoor oven flavour. If you don’t have any, consider swapping out some of the paprika for smoked paprika.

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients

1/2 brown onion, roughly chopped

3 ripe tomatoes, quartered

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 thumb sized piece of ginger

100mls water

50mls oil or ghee

4 teaspoons sweet paprika

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

1 lemon, juiced

125mls natural Greek yogurt

1 large head of cauliflower, leaves removed and some of the inner stalk removed

Method

Whizz the onion, tomatoes, garlic, ginger and water in a food processor to make a smooth runny paste.

Heat the oil or ghee in a frying pan over a medium to high heat, add the tomato and onion paste, bring up to a simmer and simmer until you have a thick, dark red paste that the oil or ghee is separating from.

Add the dried spices and salt and cook for 1 minute.

Take the pan off the heat and add the liquid smoke, lemon juice and yogurt, stir well.

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Centigrade.

Line the base and sides of a large casserole, that will fit the cauliflower snuggly, with two large pieces of baking parchment.

Turn the cauliflower upside down and spread some of the paste over the base, pushing it into all of the nooks and crannies.

Turn the cauliflower the right way up and smear over the remaining paste until completely covered.

Carefully place the cauliflower in the prepared pan, cover the top of it with another piece of baking parchment and then the lid.

Bake for 50 minutes and then remove the lid and paper and bake for 20 minutes until the cauliflower is beginning to colour.

Pesto Meatballs

I love that you don’t need to make a sauce for these meatballs, the pan juices, passata and balsamic make a lovely sauce.

The quantity of pesto is a bit vague, I made a big batch of fresh pesto today and just used up the last little bit in these meatballs.

Serves 8.

Ingredients

1kg minced pork

80-100g pesto

Salt and pepper

36-40 bocconcini, drained

750mls passata

30mls balsamic vinegar

20g finely grated Parmesan

Method

Preheat the oven to 210 degrees Centigrade.

In a large bowl, combine the pork, pesto, salt and pepper.

Divide the meat into 36-40 balls, flatten the meat, pop a mozzarella ball on top and gently bring the meat together to enclose completely. Repeat with all of the meat and cheese.

Place the meatballs in a roasting tin, a little spread out if you can.

Bake for 20 minutes until beginning to colour.

Turn the oven down to 190 degrees Centigrade.

Remove the roasting tin from the oven, pour the passata over the meatballs and then dribble over the balsamic vinegar.

Sprinkle over the parmesan and then return to the oven, bake for 25-30minutes.

Warm Rice Salad

As we roll through summer here in Western Australia salad becomes my go to veg option and now with the boys being teenagers, I need to bulk out the salads more to fill them up!

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients

200g basmati rice

375mls water

120g iceberg lettuce, finely shredded

100g cucumber, finely sliced lengthwise, I use a potato peeler

4 large spring onions, sliced at an angle

80g fresh coriander/cilantro, roughly chopped

6 dried figs, chopped into 4-6 pieces each

1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced

80g shelled pistachios

25mls lime juice

25mls olive oil

1/4 teaspoon sumac

Salt and pepper

Method

Wash the rice, pour it into a pan with a tight fitting lid, add the water and cover. Bring the rice up to the boil and then simmer, covered for 12minutes. Turn the heat off and let the rice sit for 10minutes. Do not take the lid off during the cooking and sitting period!

Allow the rice to cool a little.

Heat a dry frying pan over medium heat and add the pistachios.

Dry roast for 3 minutes and then tip the nuts onto a chopping board.

Once the nuts are cool enough to handle, roughly chop.

Combine the lime juice, oil, sumac, salt and pepper, check the seasoning.

Fork through the rice and tip into a large bowl, add the vegetables, fruit and nuts, stir well, finally pour in the dressing and stir again before serving.

I sometimes keep a few pistachios back to throw on top at the end.