5 Minute Food Fix

All green, raw food does not have to flee from your kitchen just because it's cold.Yes, the weather definitely affects what you feel like eating but salad can still comfort and nurture you even when you're putting an electric blanket on the couch. (Try this! It's excellent!)On today's episode Yumi revisits one of the GOAT salads. The classic. Rocket, Pear and Walnut. It appears in her cookbook Endless Summer. But she's giving it a rejig to make it more weather-appropriate. THE SALAD240g rocket leaves2 firm pears, sliced into chips3/4 cup of walnuts, refreshed by being toasted under the grill for 2-3 minutesbetween 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup grated Grana Padano or Parmesan CheeseTHE DRESSING (enough for 3 salads, so only use a third of this!)40ml White Balsamic Vinegar80ml of your best olive oil1tsp honey3/4tsp salt2tbs tahini

Yes, it's been a big and exciting couple of days for Stynes with her book with Dr Melissa Kang 'WELCOME TO SEX' being nominated for a Prime Minister's Literary Award... but we WILL talk about food. Yumi's been busy going through the cookbook she co-wrote with Simon. Partly because she loves Simon's recipes but also because she can't remember her own! It's incredibly handy having them written down - and you can find the book here if you're interested.SIMON'S FULLY LOADED BANANA BREADMelt 100g of butter and set aside to cool slightly.Preheat the oven to 180C.Line a loaf tin with baking paper.Activate 1tsp of bicarb in 1 cup of Greek yoghurt. Allow it to sit for 5 mins to fluff up and activate.Add to the yoghurt mixture the butter, 1 cup of caster sugar and 2 eggs, and mix.Now add in 250g plain flour, 1tsp baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon - and mix but don't overmix. Finally, add in 400g of very ripe, very mashed banana.Pour it into the prepared tin and cook it for 1.5 hours, trying not to doubt the cook time.Cool on a wire rack.

There are NO MORE EXCUSES if your roasted potatoes aren't perfect!Also, why is Yumi laughing so hard she has tears?It's all about this guy who went viral for his potatoes. THIS RECIPE IS YUMI'S VERSIONGet a large pot on the stove with 2cm water in, turn up hot.At the same time, put a full kettle on to boil.Quarter 700g potatoes.By the time you've finished cutting up the spuds, the water in the kettle and the small amount on the stove should both be boiling.Pour the kettle water into the pot on the stove.Tumble the potatoes in making sure they're not sticking together. Stir a little. Wait for the water to return to boiling then set a timer for 3 minutes.Once the timer has sounded, drain the potatoes really well so they're dry, and allow them to cool.To do the Ibiza method, pop the now-cool potatoes in the FREEZER for 35 mins.Preheat the oven to 200.Get a roasting tray on the hob and fill it with at least 2mm of olive oil. Be careful! Use the stove element to heat the oil and when it's spattering hot, carefully decant the potatoes into the oil. They will spatter. Use tongs to make sure each piece is cut-side down.Pop in the oven and roast for 30 mins before turning to the other cut side, and roast for another 20 mins. Serve when golden crunchy all over.

Freshly returned from his old stomping grounds in London, Simon is full of fresh inspiration and ideas. One of the places he's loved in the past is the legendary Peckham produce store, Persepolis. We hear about its owner and creative force, Sally Butcher, aka Sally in Peckham, and Simon talks us through one of her recipes, which you can find here or below:CAULIFLOWER AND PICKLE PIEINGREDIENTS1 cauliflower, cut into florets1 chopped onion1 cubed zucchini50g raisins1 tin drained and rinsed chickpeas1/2 jar of pickled turmeric (which you can buy here)Oil, for cookingfilo pastryMETHODPre-heat the oven to 190C.In a large tray, spread out all the veg, and rub and coat them with pickle and a few tablespoons of oil. Cover the tray with foil and bake for 30 mins. It is here Simon says you can stop and enjoy this with rice! Or continue on to make a pie:Lightly oil a 26cm X 36cm baking tray.Brush layers of filo pastry lightly with oil and layer them in the bottom of the tray until you have used half of the packet of filo.Now add the cauli-pickle filling.Repeat the filo brush-with-oil layering for the remaining sheets of pastry.Bake at 180C for 20 mins. Serve immediately with a side salad or enjoy later as leftovers!

You're in the minority if a lurgie hasn't waylaid you this past month!Here's a ginger tea to heal your roughed-up throat.Cook up 15g ginger, grated in 500ml water.While it's warming, make a slurry of 1/2tbs of potato or corn starch dissolved in 1tbs cold water.When the ginger-water tea is hot, use a whisk to stir in the slurry and bring the mixture to the boil. You should see your tea thicken - just slightly - and grow a little cloudy.Take it off the heat and stir through 2tbs of your best honey. Manuka is good here. Squeeze in some lemon if you have. Drink one cup immediately and save the other for bedtime.

Simon Davis is freshly returned from a month in his home country and the delightful dining experiences he had in England have invigorated and enlivened his appreciation of food.On today's episode we find out what is Simon's FAVOURITE RESTAURANT...? And we talk through one of the simplest desserts that is so good, I have to "cook" it this afternoon (no actual cooking required).BALSAMIC STRAWBERRIES1 punnet of strawberries, washed, hulled and halved1 tbs of your best balsamic vinegar2 tbs of white sugarCoat the strawberries in the vinegar and sugar, then leave them in the fridge to macerate for a couple of hours. Serve plain, alongside cake, or with dollops of cream, crème fraiche, or ice cream!

A couple of listeners have asked us to talk you through Tapioca Pudding. It's the sort of thing you can buy in the fridge section of health food stores and at specialty Thai Dessert Takeaway places - but unlike it's spiritual sister Bubble Tea, this is pretty easy to make!Boil 3 cups of waterAdd in 1/2 cup of tapioca pearlsStir and keep an eye on it. The pearls will go from opaque white to translucent and glassy.Don't overcook it. Take it off the heat when there's still a white nucleus.Srain and rinse in cold water, stirring with clean hands.In a seperate small saucepan, cook up1 cup of coconut milk,1/2 cup sugar,1 knotted pandan leafWarm the coconut sauce on the stove to thoroughly dissolve the sugar.Once warmed through, add back in the cooked tapioca. Stir gently. Spoon or pour out into serving cups and top with sour mango or regular mango, and if mango is out of season, top with any fruit such as paw paw, melon, tinned mandarin, pomegranate, etc. Leave to set in the fridge or eat still warm.

We discuss the utter absence of cooking with cactus in our lives (!) and a cookbook which I have loved by Nik Sharma called VEG-TABLE.To make the recipe, you need500g Orecchiette (thus named because the tiny scooped pieces look like a baby's ear 285g frozen peas11/2 tsp cumin seeds and 1/2 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed in a mortar and pestle4 cloves of garlic, grated1 tsp red pepper flakes, eg., Aleppo, Maras or Urfa.2-3tbs white miso paste (I use 3, Nik Sharma says 2)lots of grated Parmesan or Grana Padano (I use a cup+)snipped chives from the gardenBoil the pasta in generously salted rolling boiling water a minute or 2 less than the amount of time recommended on the packet. In the last 2 minutes, add the peas to the pot. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water. Dress the cooked pasta/peas with 1tbs of olive oil. Set aside and then:Warm 3 tbs good olive oil then add cumin seeds and fennel seeds. Fry for less than 1 minute until releasing their aromas. Add in the garlic and red pepper flakes.Dissolve the miso paste in 1/3 cup of the reserved pasta water. Add this to the fried spices then add the peas and crush them a little so they're less intact and more prepared to integrate with the sauce.Use a big slotted spoon to fold the cooked pasta into the spice mixture, adding in about 1/4 cup of cheese. Feel free to add a bit more pasta water to make the final version brothy. Taste. It may need more salt. Serve with more cheese on top and some generous snips of chives.

On today's episode Simon and Yumi reminisce about when they first started recording the podcast more than 280 episodes ago - in the KiiS Sydney studios, using Kyle Sandilands's diamond-encrusted microphone.It's been an incredibly fun and delicious ride since then and today's a bit of a full-circle moment as Simon builds on that first ever episode's food suggestion - try grating a tomato on your box grater. Add olive oil and a generous pinch of salt, garlic if you want (don't have to), and then spoon this simple mixture onto sourdough toast. Unbelievable!So what now? Cook it? Add seafood? You'll have to listen! And share the podcast with your people!