There are two things I love to make after coming home from a trip — something veggie-full (lately lots of Tenderherb-inspired kale and tuna salads), and a hot Sunday breakfast.
I made way too many dutch babies in lockdown — giant, custardy baked pancakes — and I’m just coming back to them now. My fave base recipe is from Thalia Ho, which includes a quick recipe for caramelised apples that will make your kitchen smells like cinnamon doughnuts. Or you can make a blueberry dutch baby by sprinkling frozen berries into the batter before it’s baked.
It’s been rainy month in lutruwita/Tasmania, so I’ve been gravitating towards recipes that warm and cheer me up.
Hetty Lui McKinnon’s vegetarian chilli
I love this recipe and will be making it all winter long. It’s made from mostly tinned ingredients and yields heaps. My favourite thing about it is all the ways you can serve it. We’ve had it as a soup, as nachos and in tacos and always with sour cream, grated cheddar, avocado, lime and pickled jalapeños. Hetty says it freezes well too.
Making a big batch of chilli means there’s more time for weeknight baking…
Tenderbro’s choc chip cookies with browned butter
My Tenderherbs obsession continues and I made her brother’s choc chip cookies, which you can find in her Instagram highlights under Tenderbro. There’s a video tutorial and a full recipe to screenshot at the end.
These cookies are good. They’re surprisingly light with plenty of chocolate chunks. And there’s a little pan bang at the end ala Sarah Kieffer to get some ripples. It’s the perfect dessert for Monday-night Succession viewing.
RecipeTinEat’s one-pot spaghetti bolognese
I’m always up for trying a new bolognese and this one is nostalgic, delicious and a bit different. It’s pretty simple (no chopping of carrots or celery, yay!) and cooking the spaghetti in the sauce gives it a softer texture, which I loved.
For something with a bit more kick, Ruth Reichl’s bolognese with spicy pork sausage and butter is another fave. It’s easy to make, you’ll just need a few hours for the sauce to simmer.
Heidi Sze’s frittata with spinach and potato
I was editing this recipe for work and realised I had all the ingredients at home. Heidi says it’s a meal that makes you feel good and I agree! It’s filled with plenty of veggies like sliced potatoes, caramelised onion, spinach, and finished with goats cheese.
I made this two weeks in a row, once for dinner and a second time to slice up for work lunches. There’s something reassuring about having a nice lunch that’s ready to grab from the fridge.
Eric Kim’s buttered gochujang noodles
Ofc I made Eric Kim’s latest recipe, his buttered gochujang noodles (NYT Cooking gift link). I first saw them in this YouTube video so went the instant noodle route (you can also use spaghetti).
The flavour combo is sweet and savoury, with a peppery kick. I’m not great with spicy food, so will probably halve the gochujang when I make it again. Or you could add some extra noodles and enjoy the dish for even longer.
Other nice things
I’m into madeleines at the moment because it’s fun to serve just-baked cakes in the shape of shells at the end of lunch. These are honey and lemon zest madeleines from Catherine and John Pawson’s book Home Cooking. Next time I’ll pipe some lemon curd or Nutella as a filling, like they do at Cumulus.
I’m forever stockpiling nice things for winter, like a flannelette sheet set and a box of this Tasmanian green tea with a hint of apple.
This Sentimental Garbage episode with Kate Young about baking and the fancy cupcake trend made me think about all the baked goods I made for my first-ever office job because I was shy!
And a highlight from a recent Sydney trip — the truffle karaage mazesoba from RaRa is an incredible bowl of noodles.
Stay warm & catch you next month 😋
I've thought a lot about that episode on Baking. I have so many cookbooks from that time period and spent so long making peanut butter and white chocolate cupcakes for my colleagues. The conversation around being a woman and this domestic goddess ideology is one that I've thought about a lot since.
You have given me some new recipes to try, thank you! Sometimes you can see it read a recipe but it’s not until you hear someone else talk about it that it spurs you on to think “yes! I want to make that too!”