Roast Vegetable Salad

Easy and delicious. Great with steak or other barbecue meats. 

Serves 4-6

2-3 zucchini, cut into chunks

2 capsicums, cut into chunks*

2 tsp dried thyme leaves

2 Tbsp garlic oil

Large handful baby spinach leaves

3 spring onions, green parts only, finely sliced

¼ cup pecans, roughly chopped

¼ cup macadamia nuts, roughly chopped

Red wine vinegar, to dress

Preheat oven to 180C. Place zucchini and capsicum on lined baking trays and toss with thyme leaves, garlic oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 45 minutes, or until soft.

In a large bowl, combine cooked vegetables, spinach, spring onions and a little red wine vinegar. Top with macadamia nuts and pecans.

Great served with steak.

* North American translation: capsicum = peppers

Carrot, Grapefruit and Mint Salad

Light and summery, the perfect accompaniment to fish. Substitute grapefruit for orange if you prefer a sweet flavour.

Serves 4

4 carrots, grated

1 ½ grapefruit, sliced into segments*

4 spring onions, green parts only, finely sliced

1/3 cup mint leaves, torn

½ orange, juiced

½ lemon, juiced

3 Tbsp garlic oil

2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

In a glass or jar, combine orange, lemon and garlic oil. Season to taste.

Combine carrots, grapefruit, spring onions, mint leaves and dressing in a bowl.  Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

* I used pink grapefruit. If you like your salad a little sweeter and less sour, use oranges instead.

Double Chocolate Chip Biscuits

These are the richest, most delicious biscuits ever and work perfectly with GF flour. It's an adaptation from the back of the Cadbury’s chocolate chips packet. They suggest ¾ cup dark chocolate baking chips, I suggest double.

Makes about 20

125g dairy free spread

½ cup brown sugar

1/3 cup caster sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 ½ cups gluten free self raising flour

½ cup cocoa

1 ½ cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 160C

Cream butter and sugars. Whisk in egg and vanilla. Stir through flour and cocoa, then fold through chocolate chips.

Roll teaspoonfuls of mixture onto lined baking trays. Press down gently using a fork or your fingers. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until cooked. Cool biscuits on a wire rack.

Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Thick and rich. There is nothing like a good bowl of pasta to warm the cockles of your heart.

Thanks to my lovely David for this beautiful photo!!

Serves 6

500g gluten free pasta

500g pork mince

500g beef mince

1/3 cup tomato paste

2 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp white pepper

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup polenta

3 spring onions, green parts only, finely sliced

2 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves

½ tsp red chilli flakes

2 Tbsp garlic oil

800g tinned diced tomatoes (doesn’t have to be exact)

500ml chicken stock*

1/3 cup tomato paste

2 bay leaves

¼ cup red wine

½ tsp Worcestershire sauce

½ lemon, juiced

Combine pork, beef, tomato paste, thyme, white pepper, egg and polenta in a large bowl. Roll out 2cm balls and place into containers or onto plates and refrigerate, covered, for an hour.

In a large pot, heat garlic oil over a medium heat. Add spring onions, thyme and chilli and fry until the onion soften. Add tomatoes, stock, tomato paste, bay leaves, wine and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil, then simmer, stirring occasionally, for about an hour or until the sauce has thickened.

Preheat oven to 180C and prepare a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.

Heat a large frypan over medium heat with a little oil. Add meatballs one at a time**, shaking the pan occasionally to turn the meatballs over. Once browned, transfer the meatballs to the baking tray and keep in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until cooked through. Add cooked meatballs to sauce pot and stir through. Keep cooking meatballs in batches until they’re all done.

Boil a large pot of water with big pot and cook pasta. Serve meatballs and sauce with pasta, topped with parmesan.

* I make and store my own onion-free, gluten-free stock for use

** Rerolling the meatballs before putting them in the pan will help prevent them from getting a flat side

Bacon Wrapped Pesto Beef

Similar to chicken roulade, this pretty much encompasses all my favourite ingredients: beef, bacon, pesto. Yeah. 

Serves 4

750g sirloin steak

16 rashers of bacon

1 cup basil leaves

3 spring onions

3 Tbsp garlic oil

1 tsp anchovy paste

½ lemon, juiced

½ cup roasted macadamia nuts

Firstly, prepare the pesto. Place basil, spring onions, garlic oil, anchovy paste, lemon and nuts in a food processor. Blend on “pulse” until just combined Season to taste.

Now prepare the beef. Place the beef steak between two pieces of baking paper. Pound the beef out so that it is 5mm thick. Slice steak into two pieces, widthways.

Lay out cling wrap on the bench, a little larger than your piece of steak. Lay strips of bacon out (approximately 8 per steak), overlapping a little on each edge. Place the steak on top. Spread a few large tablespoons of pesto across the steak.

Carefully lift up the cling wrap from one side of the beef / bacon and roll beef into itself. Peel back the cling wrap from the bacon as you go so that it doesn’t end up in the middle of the roll. Once you have a full roll, use the cling wrap to secure the roll in place. Place the roll on a place and refrigerate for at least an hour (can be left for 1 or 2 days if you want to prepare in advance). Repeat process with other steak.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Gently remove the cling wrap and place the two rolls on the baking paper. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and baste with its own juices. Bake for a further 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Pineapple Coriander Rice

Super easy, light and summery. I use fresh pineapple (best), but substitute for canned if you're in a rush.

Serves 4

2 cups basmati rice, cooked

1 cucumber, finely diced

½ pineapple, finely diced

1 cup fresh coriander, roughly chopped

4 spring onions, finely sliced

1 lime, zested and juiced

1cm ginger root, finely shaved

4 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp white vinegar

2 tsp ground cumin

Make the dressing by combining all the ingredients in a glass or jar and whisking. Then combine the cooked rice, cucumber, pineapple, coriander, spring onions and dressing in a large bowl.

Serve with green chicken.