I’m not the biggest fan of red meat. Growing up, it was a rare delicacy and my family seemed to enjoy fish a lot more. And as I grew older, I don’t really think it’s the healthiest option of protein, so I take it only about once or twice a week.

Because of this, for some reason, whenever I cook red meat at home I always make a big deal out of it. You know, to make it more ‘special’ since it’s just an occasional treat (like my Vietnamese steaks, which you can get the recipe for here). This time around, I decided to make a slow-cooked beef ragu. It’s called slow cooked because it was on the stove for more than an hour, folks. In my book that is considered an eternity in the kitchen. #workinggirlproblems

What I like the most about this dish is that it elevates the usual spaghetti Bologniese – vegetables cooked slowly so that they’re soft and becomes part of the rich tomato sauce, and the meat is cooked gently until it literally melts in your mouth. Eat it with some fresh pasta and it feels like an indulgent treat in your own home.

It’s definitely a recipe to try, even more so if you make a big batch out of it, so you can keep some in the freezer for those days where you’re too lazy to cook but still want good, comforting food.

This recipe makes for at least 4 servings with pasta.

What You Need:
250-300g steak, preferably with high marbling, cut into 1-inch cubes
½ heart of celery, chopped
2 red onions, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
½ tsp whole black peppercorns
100ml passata
Pasta of choice (I prefer fresh lasagne sheets, which I then cut into thick slices to make parpadelle)

What You Do:

1. In a deep casserole pot, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil.
2. Season the steak cubes with salt and pepper. Sear the sides of the meat in the casserole pot, for 30 seconds each side. You’re trying to get the browning of the meat going, but you’re not cooking it entirely. Remove meat.
3. In the same pot, add the chopped celery, onions and carrots. They look like a lot, but they will cook down.
4. In a pestle and mortar, pound the garlic with the peppercorns into a pasta. Add this to the pot.
5. After about 5 minutes from adding the veg, add the meat. Stir, then add the passata. Mix everything.
6. Add 500 ml water or broth. Season with salt. Close the lid. Simmer it on low heat.
7. Go do yoga or read something for about an hour. Every 10 mins or so, check on the pot. Stir everything around, or add a little water if everything looks too dry.
8. You know it’s done when the sauce has a very thick consistency, and the meat is soft that you can break the cubes easily with a spoon.
9. Boil some hot water with added salt in a different pot.
10. Take out lasagne sheets, and cut them into 0.5 inch noodles. Ta-da! You just made fresh parpadelle.
11. Cook them in the boiling water for 1 minute. If you’re opting for dried pasta, cook pasta according to packet instructions.
12. In a large plate, ladle the sauce, then the pasta on top, with a drizzle of olive oil.
13. Eat while hot, with a side serving of grated parmesan.
14. ProTip: the sauce tastes even better if kept for the next day, and the next day….

Surprise! I eat red meat. Although only once or twice a week, and not necessarily every week. I’m always trying to find ways to make red meat dishes more exciting and not too heavy, aside from the usual with-a-side-of-mash-potatoes or in some heavy, fatty curries. How I grew up, my family were not very heavy meat-eaters; most of our proteins come from the sea. When I was in boarding school we were served a lot of fried meat – they were tough, ghastly looking and quite frankly, traumatising.

So once in a while, if you feel like treating yourself, try a hand at making these Vietnamese grilled steak with a side of fresh vegetable spring rolls. The dipping sauce is the money here, sweet, sour, spicy and salty, and you’ll find yourself wanting to dip everything into it. Having fresh vegetable spring rolls makes it so much more guilt-free, and all these are best eaten while watching some sort of sword-fighting TV show; not sure why, but there is an excellent feel of butch-ness in the whole ritual of eating meat while watching people kill each other on the telly.

This serves a very hungry 1.

What You Need:
For the meat
1 good piece of lean steak
3 cloves garlic
1 stalk lemongrass
1 shallot
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1 tbsp. sesame oil
½ tbsp. sesame seeds
Salt and pepper

For the dipping sauce
1 tbsp. brown sugar, 2 tbsp. fish sauce, 2 tbsp. lime juice, 1 clove minced garlic, 1 minced bird’s eye chilli, Dash of water

For the fresh spring rolls
Rice paper (you can find them anywhere in large supermarkets)
Carrot, julienned
Cucumber, julienned
Lettuce, shredded
Coriander

What You Do:

1. For the meat marinade, blend all the ingredients together into a pulpy texture, add sesame seeds and marinade the beef for at least 30 minutes.
2. Combine all the ingredients for the dipping sauce. Check for taste. Set aside.
3. If you fancy some spring rolls, you can build some now. Dip the brittle rice paper into some room-temperature water and lay on a plate.
4. As the rice paper begins to soften, place some crunchy, raw vegetables in the centre of the paper and roll how you would a regular spring roll.
5. Don’t worry if they don’t look pretty, it’s all part of the rustic home cooking experience (or so I tell myself)
6. Put the grill pan on high heat. Once it starts smoking, place the meat onto it.
7. For medium rare, 2 minutes each side would do. Remove meat and let rest for 10 mins.
8. Slice thinly, serve with the remaining meat juices in the pan, your dipping sauce and fresh spring rolls.

 

Sunday mornings are meant to be easy, lazy and accompanied by really good breakfast. I first tried this stuffed croissant recipe from watching a YouTube video by Gordon Ramsay, and have since improvised it a little using the things that are more accessible in my house. It’s incredibly easy and doesn’t cause a fuss in the kitchen, but hugely satisfying.

With Ramadhan approaching I’m reminded that these are the things I like to eat in the early mornings. I treat sahur like I would a huge breakfast, and unfortunately I find that eating a load of rice/pasta makes me hungrier even faster, gives me a sugar low by 2 pm and frankly, doesn’t seem to be aligned with the whole theme of the month which is to eat better and more modestly.

This recipe makes 2 stuffed croissants.

What You Need:

2 Croissants, preferably stale ones
2-3 quality minced sausages, cut into quarters
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 dried chili, crumbled
1 tablespoon capers
0.5 cup chopped coriander, or as much as you like
Parmesan cheese
 
What You Do:

1. Drizzle some oil onto pan. Add garlic, dried chili and sausages.
2. After about 5-7 minutes, add capers.
3. Stir in the coriander.
4. Remove from pan. Cut the croissants lengthwise and toast them face down on the pan, soaking up all the sausage juices.
5. After 2 mins, remove croissants. Make a whole in the bottom half of the croissant.
6. Fill in with sausage mix. Top with Parmesan.
7. Put the other half of croissant on top.
8. Serve warm with a nice cup of tea.

Here’s my usual dilemma when I’m back home from a long-ass day at work; I'm too tired to go out, I don’t like takeout dinners, but I’m too lazy to cook, and I also would like some me-time to relax after long hours at the office.

Enter the tray bake. I can’t live without my oven, and years of cooking for myself whilst a busy student/worker had turned me into a self-professed tray bake fan. The best thing about this recipe is that you can really just wing it with anything you have in the fridge, as long as you’ve got the crucial elements – sausages, any type of root vegetables, any sort of herbs, and perhaps a sliver of citrusy peel (orange, lemon, lime) to make it extra special and fancy-looking.

This is my favourite tray bake combination so far. The orange peel makes the whole dish smell amazing, and the slightly caramelised onions really compliment the roasted potatoes and carrots. Using rosemary gives it a heartier feel, and using good quality sausages really makes a difference (lower sodium levels, non-processed, high minced meat content = healthier and tastes better).

This recipe serves one with no leftovers, or great as a side to a roast.

What You Need:
2 good quality sausages (or cocktail sausages if you’re on a budget)
1 large Russet potato, peeled
1 carrot, peeled
1 red onion, peeled
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon rosemary leaves (fresh or dried)
Orange/lemon/lime peel (optional)
½ red capsicum (optional)

What You Do:

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees.
2. Cut the potato, carrot and onion into large chunks, roughly all the same size.
3. Toss in a baking tray with a pinch of salt, generous amount of coarse black pepper, rosemary, orange peel (if using) and a good glug drizzle of olive oil.
4. Roast in over for 25 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, go do some yoga or check what’s happening on E!News today.
6. After 25 minutes, take the tray out. Roughly cut the sausages into similar sized pieces as the veg, and toss them in. Roast for another 10-15 minutes.
7. Wrap up that yoga session, while enjoying the seriously amazing smell coming out from the oven.
8. Serve warm with a simple side of green salad (suggestion: dress some lettuce with some lemon juice, whole-grain mustard, salt/pepper and olive oil).

 
Note** If you use foil as a base to your baking tray, you will end up with zero washing up, except for you knife, chopping board and dinner plate. (insert huge sigh of relief)

I’m a working woman with an 8 to 5 job, and I enjoy my sleep. But during Ramadhan (fasting month for Muslims) I won’t be fully functional in the day if I don’t eat a full breakfast in the morning! But since I don’t want to spend so much time making food in the wee hours of the morning, I came up with a few recipes that are max-packed with protein and other good stuff to get me through the day.

Here’s a quick recipe of a really, really good wrap that takes minutes to prepare (even less if you make the avocado smash the night before), and is proven to give me less hallucinations of a car-sized burger walking around at lunch time.

Here’s what you need:

A ripe avocado (you know this when the skin is blackened)
Lemon
A good sized steak (around 300 gm should be enough for 2 people)
Tortilla wraps
1 chilli (optional)
Hot sauce (optional)

Here’s what you do:

1.      To make the avocado smash, cut up the avocado and scoop out all the flesh in a bowl.
2.      Season generously with salt and pepper, add in some chopped chili if you have any.
3.      Squeeze in some lemon juice and mash together with fork.
4.      Put the pan on high heat. Season steak with salt and pepper, drizzle over some olive oil.
5.      Place the meat on the hot pan for 3 minutes on one side, then 2 minutes on the other.
6.      Remove meat from heat and let rest for a couple minutes. Meanwhile, spread the avocado smash on the          tortilla wrap.
7.      Cut the steak at an angle, then arrange on tortilla.
8.      Eat. I think you have ten more minutes to go.