This creamy chicken noodle soup is a homemade version of instant cup-a-soup. Except, well….it’s made with real ingredients! ? Plus croutons and crispy bits of bacon. Hearty, cosy and surprisingly healthy (no cream!). Creamy chicken noodle soup This is a nice wholesome soup that’s got everything you need for a complete meal: a good amount of vegetables, protein, starch and a bit of fun (crunchy croutons and crispy bacon bits!). No cream. No preservatives! So comparing it to the instant “just add water” powdered soups is a bit undermining, actually. Besides the fact that you won’t need to googl ..read more

Here’s a Beef Tataki recipe, a modern Japanese favorite with thinly sliced beef in a citrusy dressing. Choose a deluxe restaurant version with beef tenderloin, crispy potato straws, and garlic oil for entertaining, or a quick meal with steak and packet crispy shallots for Monday nights. Impressive either way! This recipe is one of the mains in the fusion Japanese banquet menu I shared yesterday, pictured below. The fusion Japanese menu starring this Beef Tataki! Beef tataki Tataki is a Japanese dish where a protein (usually fish or beef) is briefly seared on the outside, thinly sliced then s ..read more

Pommes Paille, crispy potato straws, are ultra-thin french fries! They fry up in just 90 seconds, making them a speedy snack, or use as a classic garnish for dishes like tartare and tataki. Pommes Paille – crispy potato straws These crispy potato straws are the garnish I made for the Beef Tataki recipe that I also published today. I’m writing the recipe separately because it’s worthy of being a recipe by itself rather than buried in the tataki recipe! Called pommes paille in France, which translates to ‘potato straws’, they resemble golden, crispy strands of straw piled high on your plate. Th ..read more

For lovers of modern Asian food, here is a fusion Japanese menu that is do-able by any home cook, along with my tips for how to prepare ahead so dinner time is a breeze! It’s a menu I made with practicality and cost in mind. The pictured banquet would cost well over $200 at a restaurant. Make it at home for a fraction of the cost! I adore modern fusion Japanese food! Ask me where I’d like to go for dinner tonight, and my answer will probably be Asian! And typically, for a Saturday night out with the girls, a modern Asian place will be a likely pick. The flavours are right up my alley – I love ..read more

Blondies are butterscotch-flavoured bars that have a texture similar to brownies. I can practically guarantee these will become your go-to baking recipe from this day forth once you see how simple and customisable they are! Blondies (butterscotch bars) This is Smitten Kitchen’s Blondie recipe, verbatim. Which, if you are as much of a Smitten Kitchen fan as I am, is all you need to know to head into the kitchen, immediately ? It is very rare for me to share a recipe without fiddling with it in some way. But when a recipe is as simple and good as this, and when I’ve tried to fiddle and failed ..read more

A tuna salad unlike any other you’ve had before! Tabbouleh vibes with a creamy feta dressing, loaded with bright Mediterranean favourites like lemon, olives, tomato, cucumber and red radish. Eat in a bowl with a spoon. Or stuff into pita bread. SO GOOD! What I really love about this salad: Chopping everything up so the salad has a spoon-able tabbouleh-like texture that acts like a mop for the creamy-lemony feta dressing. So you get a bit of everything in every single mouthful! Mediterranean tuna salad This is one of those recipes that was created with a specific goal: to make a healthy sal ..read more

It’s encouraging to see the increased demand and awareness for canned tuna that doesn’t come with a high cost to our environment and marine life, especially given the enormous amount of canned tuna that is produced and consumed globally. But I know it can be confusing to know which canned tuna to choose. So this post is my guide for how to choose sustainable canned tuna, along with some background information. Summary: which canned tuna is best? Choose skipjack tuna that is pole and line caught (ie no nets, best) or at least FAD-free* fishing methods (acceptable). Eat less yellowfin (ahi ahi ..read more

This is a handy recipe for crispy quesadillas baked in the oven. Which means you can make 3, 4 or 8 at a time instead of pan frying one by one! Stuffed with my favourite taco beef mince (ground beef) though you can use chicken, turkey, lamb or pork. Super quick and easy! Crispy oven baked beef quesadillas Recipe writers “always” trumpet on about how quick and easy quesadillas are to make (yours truly included). Which they are, if you’re cooking for one or two people. But if you’re cooking for 3 or 4 or 5 – and throw a hoard of hungry teenagers into the mix – who’s got time to pan fry them one ..read more

Ricotta gnocchi is the easy way to make homemade gnocchi from scratch! They take 20 minutes from start to finish, and are just like potato gnocchi – soft, plump pillows ready to be tossed in your sauce of choice. Today – a creamy mushroom sauce. Perfect match! Ricotta gnocchi – the easy way to make gnocchi This is not the first time I’ve shared a ricotta gnocchi recipe (see here and here), and it will not be the last. I’m a big fan because it’s a much simpler and faster to make than the more well known potato gnocchi which requires accuracy to ensure they don’t end up dense and doughy. Plus ..read more

Chicken Cacciatore, “Hunter’s Stew” or Pollo Cacciatore in Italian, is a hearty, rustic stew made with chicken and vegetables simmered in a tomato sauce rich with wine and herbs. Simple, cosy, downright tasty homemade comfort food! Chicken cacciatore – an Italian chicken stew I have a soft spot for chicken stews (proof here and here and here) because you get all the stewy-goodness that takes hours with beef stew in under an hour. Because, thank you chicken, you cook fast and we don’t need to take you to fall-apart-goodness to be juicy perfection! Today’s chicken stew is Chicken Cacciatore. “C ..read more