There is something comforting about a roast dinner on a cold winter’s night. However it is not altogether practical when you don’t have time to spend all afternoon preparing and you don’t have an army to feed.

This is my “cheat’s roast” which will be tonight’s dinner.

Smoosh a couple of cloves of chopped or pressed garlic into a couple of beef fillets. Massage some balsamic vinegar (or red wine) into the meat, cover, and put into the fridge to marinate for 15 minutes or more.

raw beef

While that is happening, chop up some veg. Tonight I used some kipfler potatoes, skin on, chopped into rough chips. Sweet potato, carrots, red onions, pumpkin etc would be great too - whatever you have on hand. I tossed the potatoes in a generous amount of extra-virgin olive oil, flaked salt (I used Murray River pink salt but you can use Maldon or whatever takes your fancy), heaps of cracked pepper and some fresh thyme and spread them out onto a baking dish.

chips

I also put some tiny roma tomatoes into a mix of eevo and balsamic vinegar, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper in a small oven dish. You can also use cherry or grape tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes in halves or quarters depending on how much time you have to cook them.

tomatoes (I realised i needed to chop these after the photo)

I had some large flat field mushrooms so I topped those with eevo, salt and pepper and some breadcrumbs and put them onto a tray.

Slide the veg into a hot oven, pour yourself a glass of red and tidy up the kitchen. Once that’s done it will be time to cook the meat. Drain and then massage some oil into the meat. Chuck the beef onto a hot pan and cook to your liking. The balsamic will make the beef rather dark so don’t worry.

Rest the beef while you set the table and pour more wine. Top the tomatoes with some crumbled fetta and pile the potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms and beef onto some warmed plates, maybe with a bit of just wilted spinach. Deglaze the pan and pour on top of everything else.

I didn’t have a lot of time to present this nicely because my husband was about to knock me out to get to dinner. So here it is.

dinner

Please forgive the awful photos, I am just learning. Feedback is more than welcome!

I love eating and I think I know it all, so you would think that I would happily recommend restaurants to all and sundry. Not so.

I have a serious case of restaurant performance anxiety. Recommending a restaurant makes me feel like I’m standing naked with only my favourite children to protect me - but what if they don’t? What if the restaurant is so spectacularly awful (and hell, it is Perth so that is hardly a mean feat) that you think I have awful taste too?

I recently was forced to recommend a restaurant to my cousin and his new wife. This was particularly fraught with danger because she asked me to suggest a good Indonesian restaurant - and she is from Java. (From, as in arrived in Perth 3 weeks ago). Luckily, the recommendation produced under duress (Sweet Java in Grosvenor Street Mt Lawley, in case you are wondering - and if you start going there and I can’t get a table I will be very cross) came good. But I can’t handle the stress.

On that basis, I’m going to offer up some non-recommendations. These Perth restaurants are so consistently rubbish in my view that I feel secure enough to say it aloud.

• Sienas
• Sicilian Subiaco
• The Olive Tree
• The Jolly Frog (this one might be scandalous)
• Almost anything claiming to be Mexican
• I can’t believe I forgot it earlier - Pines Grand (that isn’t) Buffet and Carvery

If you disagree, tell me so.

Edit: Thanks to the feedback of the good people of Perth, decent Mexican can be had at The Flying Taco and That Little Mexican Place, both located in Perth’s very own little Mexico. You can also have a good time at Panchos in Vic Park or Zapata’s in Freo with the addition of a cocktail or forty.

The Good Bad and the Ugly is best forgotten, and the Shed is the perfect example for why most eatingwa restaurant reviewers should not have access to a computer.

I recently posted the first in a series of I don’t know how many yet, on how to plan your meals.

This is the second part in the series. This is the bit where you will write a master list. This list is not your weekly shopping list. This list forms the basis for everything in your fridge, pantry and freezer. This list, if written properly, will save you oodles of time.

The trick is not to copy someone else’s list (not even mine). It needs to be tailored to the way that you live, work, cook and eat. It is no good building a pantry of polenta, lentils and cous cous if you’re a meat and 3 veg kind of guy, even if it sounds like the right thing to do. [Read more →]

I’m a (26 year old) P plater. I have never had a driving infringement, no speeding tickets, have never even been pulled over. Nor have I ever had a driving accident. I also drive a turbo car.

My car is a twin turbo. It has 18 inch rims and sports suspension.

It also has more air bags than you could imagine, excellent safety ratings and very good visibility (without being an urban assault vehicle). [Read more →]

Inspired by Iron Chef Shellie’s raspberry and white chocolate brownies (which I will be making very very soon!) here is my recipe for white chocolate and raspberry muffins. The recipe is from an old Delicious magazine.

Ingredients:

440g plain flour
1 tbs baking powder
250g caster sugar
1 1/2 cups vege oil
1 1/2 cups (375ml) milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
200g white choc, roughly chopped
200g fresh or frozen raspberries

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Line a 12 hole muffin pan with paper cases.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, add the sugar and stir to combine.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, then add the oil, milk and beaten eggs.
Mix gently until just combined, then carefully fold in the chopped white chocolate and 150g of the raspberries.
Spoon the muffin mixture into the paper cases and place in the oven for 20 minutes.
Remove the muffin pan from the oven and garnish each muffin with the remaining raspberries.
Return to the oven and cook the muffins for a further 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
Best served warm.

Next time you decide to call first thing on a Saturday morning to announce that our mortgage is entirely one month’s payment in arrears, giving me a heart attack in the process, please make sure that the account is actually in arrears.

That is all.

I wrote this in response to Sunili’s comment on my risotto recipe.

It might be time-consuming but I really believe that writing meal plans and shopping lists can help you to eat better more balanced meals and save money too. However, a lot of meal plans are set up so that while you eat nice, healthy, balanced meals and save some dosh, the meals are boring and repeated over and over ad infinitum. I don’t like boring, so this is the way I do it. [Read more →]

Ok so maybe it is a little cold for salad, but this one does have a little bit of chilli to warm you up.

I’m making it for dinner tonight because it is easy (and I like easy) and it tastes pretty good too! (This does not purport to be a Thai style salad.)

Ingredients (to serve 4):

250g rice stick noodles
4 150-200g pieces sirloin steak
1 1/2 tbs peanut oil, plus extra to brush
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 red chilli, seeds removed (or not), finely sliced
1 1/2 tbs caster sugar
small piece of ginger
2 lebanese cucumbers, cut into strips
1 small red (spanish) onion, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, quartered
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
lime wedges, to serve

Method:

Place noodles in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for 6-7 minutes until softened or follow packet instructions. Drain thoroughly and refresh if you like.

Preheat a frypan or bbq until hot.
Brush steaks with oil, then sear for 2 minutes on each side, if you like rare beef. (ed: If you don’t, just keep cooking until the meat is all dried out and awful. )
Transfer steaks to a warmed plate and rest for 5 minutes, then slice.

Combine soy sauce, vinegar, chilli, sugar, peanut oil and ginger in a bowl until sugar is dissolved. Add noodles, beef, cucumber, red onion and tomato. Toss well.

Top with mint and serve with lime wedges.