This is a super fast dish. It takes much longer to wash the dishes than it does to prepare and cook this meal. Not the tastiest dish I’ve ever made, probably because it was the first time I made it, but it’s really quick to make and will fill up that hole in your stomach faster than you can say discombobulated.

Preparation time: 1 minute
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 500g beef mince
• 2 tbs oil
• 2 tbs red curry paste
• 4 spring onions (or chives), chopped thinly (rough for chives)
• 2 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
• 2 tbs fish sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup basil leaves
• 1/2 onion
• white rice to serve

Method

1. Heat oil in wok over medium heat then add curry paste. Stir fry for a minute or until fragrant.
2. Turn heat to high and add mince. Stir fry until brown, break up wit spoon.
3. Add onion, spring onions fish sauce, sugar and lime leaf. Stir fry for a minute.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the basil leaves.
5. Serve on rice.

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I pinched a cook book off one of the girls at work and this recipe caught my eye because:

1. I love pumpkin,
2. it had a pretty picture and,
3. it looked easy to make.

So easy to make in fact, that when the inner stupid me forgot to bring the recipe home I still managed to cook it without screwing it up to much. I kid you not when I say that the creamy pumpkin and sage flavoured sauce will give you an orgasm of the tastebuds. You’d be an idiot not to give this a go one day.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 Minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 500g pumpkin (I used butternut) cut into 1cm cubes
• 4 green onions, chopped coarsely (I used half a bunch of chives instead)
• 1 tablespoon thinkly sliced/shredded fresh sage
• 750g fresh ravioli of your choice
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup (180ml) cream
• 3/4 cup (180ml) vegetable stock

Method

1. Heat oil in large non-stick frying pan. Fry pumpkin, stirring occasionall until browned lightly and just tender (10-15 mins). Add green onions and shredded sage; cook, stirring for 1 minute. Remove from pan and keep warm.
2. Meanwhile, cook ravioli as per the instructions on the packet. Drain and keep warm.
3. Place vinegar, cream and vegetable stock in same cleaned pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Add pumpkin mixture and ravioli back to pan, stir over low heat until the sauce is heated through.
4. Bring the leftovers to work the next day and make sure everyone can smell your wonderful concoction come lunctime.

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I once ate a spectacular grilled lamb at a local Thai restauraunt one night and I wanted to do something similar from home. Call me stingy if you want, but when I saw a small rack of lamb on special at the supermarket one day I decided to give it ago.

This dish features lemongrass, a popular flavour in Vietnamese cuisine. The original recipe called for a tamarind sauce, but I gave it a miss as I was too lazy and it tastes great on its own or with any other sauce really.

Preparation time: 10 minutes plus 2-3 hours marination
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 4 stalks lemongrass, trimmed and minced
• 4 shallots, peeled
• 2 small hot chillies
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon oil (vegetable, peanut)
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 small racks of lamb, about 500grams each, cut into riblets
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Combine lemon grass with shallots, chillies, sugar and oil in a mortar and pestle or a food processor. Being poor I don’t have either of these so I minced it finely with a knife. Add fish sauce. Sprinkle lamb with salt and pepper and marinate it in this mixture for 2 to 3 hours, wrapped and refrigerated.
2. Grill under high heat for 10 to 15 minutes, turning as necessary to avoid it turning into a giant blob of char. Serve it smokin hot with rice and your favourite dip baby!

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