25 May 2026 · 4 min read

Cooking · Sweet Treats

Apple Crumble

Apples rough-chopped in the Ninja, a crumble lid pulsed up in the same jug a minute later, and both into the fridge in separate tubs until baking. Forty-five minutes in a hot oven the next evening and pudding's done while we eat. The topping never touches the wet fruit until the oven, so the crumb stays dry and the bake comes out crisp.

Read article 20 May 2026 · 8 min read

Cooking · Mains

Cream of Mushroom Soup

A proper mushroom soup -- a kilo of mushrooms browned hard, a handful of dried porcini for depth, sweated onions and garlic, a measure of whisky in the deglaze, blended just enough to be silky without losing the bite. The base freezes in single-serve portions; the cream goes in at reheat so it never splits.

Read article 18 May 2026 · 4 min read

Cooking · Mains

Honey Soy Chicken Wings

Thirty minutes from packet to plate. Wings seared hard in a heavy pan until the skin crackles, then rolled through a sticky soy-honey glaze with ginger and garlic, served on jasmine rice with a scatter of spring onion and sesame. One pan, one rice pot, two bowls.

Read article 17 May 2026 · 6 min read

Cooking · Sweet Treats

Sourdough Discard Choc Chip Cookies

Brown-butter chocolate chunk cookies with a hundred grams of sourdough discard folded through the dough -- chewy edges, a centre that stays gooey, and just enough tang from the starter to keep them from cloying. The whole batch is built to scoop, freeze raw, and bake one or two from frozen on the night you want them.

Read article 17 May 2026 · 4 min read

Cooking · Sweet Treats

Poires Pochées

Whole pears simmered in a vanilla-lemon syrup until a knife slides in like cutting butter, then cooled in the same syrup overnight so the flavour reaches the core. Beurre Bosc is the May default in Perth -- firm enough to hold their shape through a long poach. Standalone or sliced into a mille-feuille.

Read article 17 May 2026 · 2 min read

Cooking · Pastry

Cheese Twists

Rough puff rolled thin, dressed with grated parmesan and a turn of black pepper, folded over and rolled again, sliced into strips and twisted. Baked until deep gold and shattery. The quickest way to turn a batch of pastry into an afternoon snack -- twenty-five minutes from fridge to plate, eaten warm with a glass of something cold.

Read article 17 May 2026 · 5 min read

Cooking · Pastry

Crème Pâtissière

Vanilla pastry cream cooked on the stove in twelve minutes -- milk, yolks, sugar, cornflour, vanilla. The engine of half of French pastry: the inside of an éclair, the filling under fruit tarts, the cream between the layers of a mille-feuille. Makes about 600g.

Read article 17 May 2026 · 5 min read

Cooking · Pastry

Rough Puff Pastry

Quick puff -- four turns instead of six, cubes of butter rolled into the dough instead of a hand-shaped butter block. Most of the flake, half the work. The pastry behind mille-feuille, palmiers, sausage rolls, and anything that wants crisp golden layers without a Friday-night beurrage.

Read article 17 May 2026 · 2 min read

Cooking

A Weekend in the Kitchen

Three things from a busy weekend in the kitchen, each with its own recipe card: a tray of cheese twists from a fresh batch of rough puff, a saucepan of pears poached in vanilla-lemon syrup, and a freezer bag of cookie dough balls that bake one or two at a time when wanted.

Read article 13 May 2026 · 4 min read

Cooking · Preserves

Sweet-Orange Marmalade

A fast one-day marmalade -- whole oranges and lemons rough-chopped in the blender, simmered with jam sugar and plain sugar for about an hour. No overnight soak, no separate pectin bag. Just citrus, sugar, heat.

Read article 10 May 2026 · 3 min read

Cooking · Sweet Treats

Lemon Meringue Pie

A blender pâte sucrée scented with lemon zest, a smooth lemon curd, and an Italian meringue with peaks blowtorched gold. A weekend pie -- two component recipes assembled across Saturday and Sunday.

Read article 10 May 2026 · 3 min read

Cooking · Mains

Fish Pie

Rick Stein's Cornwall fish pie, with Australian fish. White fish, smoked fish, prawns under a buttered mash, baked until the top is gold.

Read article 10 May 2026 · 3 min read

Cooking · Pastry

Pâte Sucrée

Sweet shortcrust pastry made in the food processor in five minutes, perfumed with lemon zest, ready for any tart shell that needs a crisp golden base. The pastry behind the lemon meringue and a dozen other things.

Read article 10 May 2026 · 2 min read

Cooking · Preserves

Lemon Curd

A bright, smooth lemon curd cooked over a pan of water, set with cold butter, and good for everything from a tart filling to a swirl through yoghurt. Makes about 600g.

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