sartoric

Beef pot roast. Served with sweet potato mash, kale sautéed with bacon and garlic, a sauce made from the pot roast liquid and crusty bread to dunk. I have fresh silverside, seasoned with pepper, browned on all sides in olive oil, then rested. I sauté sliced onions until very soft, then add sliced carrots and celery. I make a bouquet garni from herbs including parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage and bay leaves. I make a space in the veggie pan and add the beef, the bg, and enough beef stock to come part way up the meat. I cover, and simmer slowly for two hours, turning every 30 minutes. For the mash I boil sweet potato (2/3) and regular potato (1/3) in salted water until tender, mash with milk, butter and horseradish cream. The kale gets de stalked and finely shredded. I crush garlic, dice bacon, and fry them in butter for about a minute, then add the kale. Toss and stir, add some white wine, season with salt and pepper, cover, then simmer until kale is done. When I suspect the beef is meltingly tender, I remove it to a plate and cover with foil. I fetch the bouquet garni out, reduce the juice over high heat, then use a stick blender to make a smooth sauce. Here is a chance to play with the flavour, I add Dijon mustard and salt reduced tamari. Slice the beef, serve with the veggies in shallow bowls, lots of sauce and bread for dipping. Hot English mustard goes with this well, a piece of beef, a touch of mustard, a smear of mash, a bit of green stuff....yum. Eat.

Thai Massaman curry with beef. Served with jasmine rice, cucumber sambal and roti bread for dunking. I use skirt steak for this, partially frozen, then cut on a 45 degree angle into thin slices. Once they're completely defrosted, I toss the slices into a plastic bag with a little ground cinnamon and Garam masala, then flash fry in batches and remove to a plate. I stir fry slivered onion and crushed garlic until soft, add massaman curry paste and fry until fragrant, add tamarind paste, coconut milk, beef stock and chunks of potato. For something different, I use a mix of regular and sweet potatoes. Season with a little fish sauce and brown sugar, then simmer until potatoes are tender. Add the beef to heat through for two minutes only, scatter in torn basil leaves and sprinkle on chopped peanuts. I serve coriander on the side. Meanwhile I've steamed jasmine rice, and made a dish of diced cucumber with red chilli in a rice wine vinegar & sugar mix. Fry rotis with a smear of ghee. Eat.

Ha ha, that's so funny, I do the same. Mine is also second generation Italian, and bolognaise is the cure all remedy.

Chicken, bacon and veggie pie topped with avocado and cheese. #Leftover roast chicken idea number 101. Served with "not just potato" mash, fresh tomato relish and rocket leaves. I make a pie filling using tiny diced onion, celery and carrot, all sautéed slowly in butter until soft. Season with pepper, turn up the heat and add a diced rasher of bacon. When it's browned add flour and stir for a few minutes until the flour coats everything and starts to brown. Add chicken stock, the shredded roast chicken, some diced broccoli and chopped thyme, stir until thickened and tasty ! Cool. I spray a 21 cm pie tin with oil spray and line with shortcrust pastry, prick with a fork then blind bake (using dried beans) in a hot oven about 10 minutes. I use the same soy beans over and over for blind baking, they're labeled clearly so I don't try to add them to soup, lol. I seed, peel and slice an avocado and grate some cheddar cheese. Remove the baking beans, cool pastry slightly then add the chicken filling to come part way up the side, smooth the filling, then on top lay the sliced avocado and a sprinkle of grated cheddar. Grind on fresh pepper and pop it back into the oven until cheese is melted and browned. Meanwhile, I boil potatoes adding chopped shredded cabbage in the last five minutes, then mash it all with butter, milk and horseradish cream. For the tomato relish, I fry finely chopped onion plus grated ginger in olive oil, when soft, I add canned chopped tomatoes, sugar, balsamic vinegar and simmer until thick. Rocket leaves are sprinkled with a little salt, pepper, garlic oil and balsamic vinegar. I serve in shallow bowls with the mash, relish and leaves alongside. Eat.

Chicken laksa with a side of fresh pineapple, cucumber and spring onions. Plus roti bread for dipping.

Thai green curry with chicken and veggies. Served with jasmine rice and papaya chutney. Not a traditional Thai curry, this is my "one pot" approach. Works for me. I slice onion into thin half moons, cut chicken thigh fillets into chunks, peel and cut potatoes a similar size to chicken, chunk some zucchini, halve snow peas and trim some baby spinach leaves. At the ready I have kaffir lime leaves, coconut milk, fish sauce, brown sugar, fresh lime juice and green curry paste - Mae Ploy brand is my favourite. I also gather some fresh mint leaves and coriander Heat peanut oil, fry onion until soft, then fry curry paste until fragrant, then fry chicken until browned. Add coconut milk and potatoes, crush the lime leaves in a fist and throw them in, add a little fish sauce, lime juice and sugar. I'll adjust these flavours further later. Simmer 20 minutes, add the zucchini. I give it another 10 minutes then add the snow peas and spinach. Taste and adjust seasoning. Remove lime leaves, add mint and coriander leaves. Meanwhile I've cooked jasmine rice in the MW rice cooker, what a fabulous invention that is. Serve in shallow bowls with chutney on the side (the chutney is also not traditional, but works for me). Eat.

Agreed, it's the best way to eat kale

My bamix died early this year, aged 40. You have lucked in

A few 100 metres south of the War Remnants museum (very interesting BTW) there's a food hall similar to the hawker centres in Singapore. It's similar in that many different vendors share the space with communal tables for patrons. There you can find such delights as "garlic chicken wings temperamental " and "beef communications landscape". No kidding, I have photos. Methinks they need a better translator. Thank you for leading me to this forum via your post on Fodors.

Kale chips. Rip up kale, sprinkle with olive oil and good salt, into a moderate oven for 10 minutes.

Moroccan beef skewers with Harissa dipping sauce. Served with couscous, garlicky green beans, carrot salad, baba ganoush and toasted pita breads. I have skirt steak thinly sliced across the grain (easier if partially frozen). I marinate this in my Moroccan spice mix: 1 teaspoon ground coriander, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt plus olive oil in a bowl. The slices get threaded onto soaked bamboo skewers, chill in the fridge for a while, then get briefly grilled on the barbie. To make the Harissa dipping sauce, I mix my killer homemade Harissa, olive oil, lemon juice, tomato paste and malt vinegar. The couscous is prepared with chicken stock. I add butter and finely diced spring onion at the end. The green beans are steamed, refreshed, then finished with a mix of butter, crushed garlic and turmeric sautéed together. For the salad, I grate a carrot, add fresh orange juice, ground cumin, olive oil, season well, cover and put in the fridge. To serve add finely shredded mint leaves. The baba ganoush is a mix of roasted eggplant (hot oven until it collapses, peel and mash flesh), tahini, minced garlic, lemon juice, ground cumin and salt and pepper. This one has a chunky texture, a stick blender can be used if you prefer smooth. The salad, beans and eggplant dip can all be made well before serving. Toast pita breads. Serve mezze style. Eat.

Thanks Darienne. Yes Daintree is a couple thousand kilometres north from here. It's a very beautiful area though and well worth a visit ! Maybe one day you'll get here.

I'm an amateur but passionate cook living on the Gold Coast in Australia. I've been interested in food and cooking for about 40 years (yes, I started young) and travel often to South East Asia where perhaps my main food interests lie. We are lucky to enjoy a sub tropical climate, so grow many herbs, plus tomatoes and small veggies on our suburban block. I love the research involved in finding and adapting new recipes. I also love the challenge of looking in the fridge/pantry at what's available, then coming up with a delicious meal. It's great to find this site, happy days ahead !

I'm not sure how many cookbooks I have, guess about 140. They do have their own dedicated bookshelf in the kitchen, mostly Asian and other on the left, mostly European or western on the right.

Chicken satays with peanut sauce and fresh pickled cucumber. Served with gado gado salad platter. Yesterday I marinated some 2 cm cubes of thigh fillet in a mix of ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, minced garlic, soy sauce, lemongrass paste and peanut oil. Today they get threaded onto soaked bamboo skewers, and are destined for the barbecue. For the salad, I hard boil eggs, cool, peel and cut into quarters. I get a steamer going and steam in the following order : small potatoes, trimmed green beans, shredded cabbage and snow peas. Drain, cut potatoes when cool and reserve all. I heat a small pan and fry cubes of tofu in peanut oil. Drain on paper towels. The peanut sauce has evolved over the years from a recipe in a 30 year old cookbook- "The Cooking of Southeast Asia " published in 1984.... In a small sauce pan I heat crunchy peanut butter and water, then add minced garlic. When the mixture boils and thickens, I turn off the heat and add lemon juice, brown sugar, soy sauce and chilli paste, and a little coconut milk, all to taste. Half of this gets thinned with some of the rice wine and sugar mix from the cucumber pickle (below) to make the salad dressing, the rest is a dipping sauce. The cucumbers get cored, quartered and finely sliced, I add a de seeded chilli, some grated ginger and diced red onion, then pour over a mix of rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt which has been heated to dissolve the sugar. I place the salad veggies, the tofu, and a few lettuce leaves on a plate, top with bean sprouts, then drizzle the dressing over. Fire up barbie, grill satays until just cooked. Serve on lettuce leaves, with peanut sauce and cucumber pickle in bowls on the side. Eat.