Source: Healthy Food Guide

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 teaspoons moroccan spice mix
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 large tomatoes, chopped

2 tablespoons coriander, chopped l red onion, diced

Juice and zest of 2 lemons

4 x 80g salmon fillets

2 sweet potatoes (600g), scrubbed
cooking oil spray
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes

Salad
4 cups baby spinach

1 red onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 yellow nectarines, sliced

Method
1. Combine olive oil, 2 teaspoons of the moroccan spice, garlic, tomato, coriander, and juice and zest of 1 lemon in a medium bowl to make the chermoula. Season with cracked black pepper and set aside.
2. Mix remaining spice, lemon juice and lemon zest in a small bowl. Brush mixture onto the salmon fillets and set aside,
3. Cut sweet potato into wedges. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add potato and cook for 5 minutes, or until almost tender, then drain and place on a heated grill pan or barbecue hotplate. Spray potato with cooking oil and sprinkle with chilli flakes. Cook, turning once and spraying with cooking oil again, for l0 minutes, or until potato is crisp and golden.
4. Put all the salad ingredients in a large salad bowl and toss to combine. Grill reserved salmon in pan or on hotplate for 2 minutes per side, or until cooked to your liking. Top fillets with a little chermoula, and serve with wedges, salad and a side of remaining chermoula.

Source: David Herbert

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
100g diced fatty bacon
or pancetta
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 cup white wine
2 cups fish, chicken or vegetable stock
400g small mushrooms, sliced
800g white fish, cut into cubes

Method

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat; add shallots and bacon or pancetta. Cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are soft, translucent and just beginning to caramelise. Add herbs, garlic, wine and stock. Add sliced mushrooms to pan, bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer until tender (10-15 minutes). When nearly ready to serve, add fish and simmer for 7-8 minutes until just done. Season to taste and serve with crusty bread.

Serves 3-4

Obviously Jewish and Muslim people and vegans/vegetarians should look away now.

It looks more complicated than it is but believe me it’s well worth the effort for a special occasion.

Source: Alison Roman

In almost any form, a large hunk of pork is predisposed to deliciousness. The sheer size of a pork shoulder, in addition to the abundance of marbled fat throughout, makes it nearly impossible to mess up; unlike a standing rib roast or a rack of lamb, you’re not aiming for rare, which takes a lot of the pressure off. This flavourful cut of meat is best slow cooked, then sliced when it’s just tender enough. That said, if it were to fall apart into melt-in-the-mouth shreddy bits, would that really be the worst thing?

Serves 8

Ingredients
1.6-1.8kg boneless, skinless pork shoulder, any twine or netting removed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 orange, halved
2 garlic bulbs, halved lengthways
6 thyme sprigs
3 fresh or dried bay leaves .
3 dried red chillies, or 1 teaspoon crushed chilli flakes
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
250ml (1 cup) orange juice
1/2 bunch coriander, thick stems separated from the tender stems and leaves
4 limes, halved

Method

Preheat oven to 165°C. Season pork with salt and pepper.

Heat vegetable oil in a large, heavy- based saucepan (with a lid) over medium-high heat. Sear pork, fat side down, until it’s really well browned, which should take 8-10
minutes. Turn pork over and brown on the other side for another 8-10
minutes.

Transfer to a large serving platter or cutting board, and drain pan of all but 1 tablespoon of fat. Add orange and garlic to pan, cut side down, followed by thyme, bay leaves, chillies and coriander seeds. Cook, stirring for a second, to lightly brown the orange and
garlic.

Add orange juice and 500ml (2 cups) water, stirring to scrape up any bits on the bottom. Return pork to the pan; the liquid should come a little less than halfway up the meat (add more water if it doesn’t).

Cover pan and transfer to oven. Roast pork until it is super-tender; ideally you want to be able to slice it, not shred it. This should take roughly 3-4 hours.

Remove pan from oven and, using tongs or two large serving utensils, transfer pork
to a cutting board and let it rest for a few minutes.
Chop thicker stems of coriander and add to pan with pork juices.
Juice 2 limes into pan, throwing spent limes in, too.

Slice pork and return it to pan with any juices; alternatively, place sliced pork on
a large serving platter and ladle juices over it. Top pork with remaining coriander before serving, along with remaining lime halves for squeezing over.

A favorite of my nephew, Joel.

Ingredients
For the mince
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
500g beef mince
1 mild red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 red pepper deseeded and diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
2 tbsp tomato purée
1-2 tbsp mango chutney
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
1 small bunch fresh coriander, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper

To assemble
3 large tortilla wraps
250g full-fat mascarpone
100g mozzarella grated
100g cheddar

Method
Preheat the oven to 160C/140C
Pour the oil into a large ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat, add the onions and fry for 3 minutes. Turn up the heat, add the mince and fry until brown, breaking the meat up with a wooden spoon and stirring occasionally.
Add the chilli, red pepper, garlic and spices and fry for 5 minutes, or until all the moisture has evaporated and the mixture is quite dry. Stir in the tomato purée, mango chutney, tinned tomatoes and salt and black pepper. Cover with a lid, bring to the boil and transfer to the oven to simmer for an hour.
Remove from the oven and stir in half the coriander. Increase the oven temperature to 2OOC/180C Fan
Spread a third of the cooked mince beef mixture over the bottom of the ovenproof dish and lay one tortilla wrap on top. Spread a third of the mascarpone (see tip) over the tortilla and sprinkle with a third of each of the mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. Repeat twice more so you have 3 layers.
Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes until golden-brown and bubbling. Set aside for 5 minutes before serving and garnish with the remaining coriander.

Recipe Tips
If your mascarpone is firm, you might find it easier to spread the mascarpone on each tortilla first before adding to the dish.
If covered and chilled in the fridge, you can assemble this dish up to 6 hours ahead. Simply bake at 200C/180C Fan for 25 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.

Source: David Herbert

One of Sue’s absolute favorites.

PEAR & CARAMEL PUDDING

Ingredients

Butter, for greasing
1 cup plain flour
2/3 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
100ml milk
1 egg, beaten
4 ripe pears, peeled and cut into 2cm pieces
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Caramel sauce
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
60g butter, melted
Pinch sea salt
150ml boiling water
Vanilla ice cream, to serve

Method

Preheat oven to 170°C (fan). Grease a 20cm square ceramic baking dish with a little butter. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, ginger and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Beat in milk and egg until combined. Stir in pears and pecans. Spoon into prepared dish and place dish on a flat oven tray (this will save your oven if it bubbles over).

Combine brown sugar, melted butter, sea salt and boiling water; pour over the pears. Bake, uncovered, for 45-50 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream. Serves 6-8