world's easiest granola

ingredients:
  • oats
  • apple (large)
  • dried fruit (i use raisins)
  • nuts (i use hazelnuts, pecans, or both)
  • almond milk (any other type of milk is probably fine)
  • optional: flaxseed meal and chia seeds for extra omega-3 (particularly important if you're a vegetarian/don't eat fish!)
  • serve-with suggestion: greek yoghurt, honey
serves:
about two weeks' worth of breakfasts for one person
cook time:
5 mins prep, 1 hour in the oven
instructions:
  1. preheat oven to 350F
  2. line a high-walled baking tray with parchment paper, folding it up at the edges and making a sort of basin. if you do this right, you won't even have to wash the tray!
  3. cover the surface of the tray with a generous layer of oats. add any other dry ingredients, not including dried fruit. i just scatter the flaxseed and chia seeds over the top, and try not to overwhelm with the amount of nuts.
  4. grate an apple over the top. if you want, you can strain excess water out of the apple first by squshing it between paper towels.
  5. add a few splashes of almond milk and stir thoroughly with a fork
  6. put it in the oven! if you have a bottom element oven, put it on the top shelf, and vice versa for a top element. especially crucial if you have a bottom element oven: if the granola is too close to the element, the bottom will burn and form a crust at the bottom.
  7. bake for about an hour, stirring after the first 5 minutes and then every ~10-15 minutes. at about the halfway mark, add the dried fruit. if you add it too early, it will puff up and the sugars will form a burnt crust on the outside, which is unpleasant to eat.
  8. the granola is done when everything has dried out entirely and the nuts and dried fruit are lightly browned
  9. let it cool, then store in the fridge in an airtight glass container. serve with yoghurt and honey for the perfect breakfast! (it's also very high protein if this is a concern for you)

one-pan peanut noodles

ingredients:
  • rice noodles (thicker are better)
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic
  • 2-3 scallions
  • one fresh chilli (i recommend a whole cayenne or half a birdseye, or chilli crisp for when fresh chillis are out of season)
  • whatever veg you have lying around: i keep a cabbage around at all times especially for this dish, so that's my preference, but it's also good with bok choy and japanese eggplant
  • peanut oil
  • peanut butter
  • soy sauce
  • optional flavour profile adjustments: lime, ginger, honey, tamarind paste
  • for the serve-with suggestions: sesame seeds, avocado, chilli crisp, rice wine vinegar, one egg
serves:
one, but can easily be scaled up
cook time:
20 mins
instructions:
  1. place your rice noodles in the frying pan and set a kettle full of water to boil. sometimes for extra spice i like to put a dried chilli in with the noodles
  2. while the water boils, dice your aromatics: the garlic, scallions, and chillis
  3. when the water is boiled, pour it over the noodles and turn on the burner to medium-high
  4. let the noodles cook most of the way, but not too much, and then remove them into a bowl, covering them with a little extra water from the pan so they can finish cooking
  5. add peanut oil to the pan, and once it's heated, add the aromatics. optional: grate in some fresh ginger
  6. while the aromatics are crisping up, dice your vegetable of choice, and then add it to the pan. optional: squeeze over some lime juice, letting it soak into the veg for a little extra zing. at this stage you can also add honey or tamarind paste for a little extra sweetness/tang.
  7. when the vegetables are cooked to your satisfaction, add soy sauce, stir through, and then add a heaped tablespoon of peanut butter. pour over the excess water from the noodles and stir through, letting the water melt down the peanut butter
  8. stir constantly while the sauce is reducing, making sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan; you can turn down the heat here if you want, but not too low.
  9. when the sauce reaches a nice gooey and not-too-wet consistency, add in the noodles and stir through
  10. serve-with suggestions: sesame seeds (i like using both white and black for visual appeal); diced avocado drizzled with lime juice; chilli crisp mixed with lime juice and rice wine vinegar to create a little chilli oil to pour over the top; crispy fried egg. combine multiple of these for depth of flavour and to make it look beautiful!

BTJ sauce


i call this sauce "better than jarred" because i developed it explicitly to replace jarred tomato sauce for pasta. i wanted to move away from jars because (1) they're expensive, (2) if you're just cooking for one, they can be wasteful, because they tend to taste bad after some time in the fridge, (3) if you have allergies and intolerances, it takes a lot of effort to constantly vet ingredients and production lines, and of course (4) usually the taste is a little disappointing. BTJ sauce obviously takes more effort than just pouring sauce out of a jar, but it has infinitely more depth of flavour, and it's so quick that it will easily be one of the laziest recipes in your repertoire. you'll only need to use one saucepan (which you've already cooked pasta in), a chopping board, and a knife.

ingredients:
  • cherry tomatoes
  • tomato paste
  • garlic
  • shallots
  • parsley
  • olives
  • olive oil
  • herbs, spices, and salt to taste
  • optional: this is a great way to use up some vegetables that are looking a little worse for wear. i like adding eggplants especially, but capsicum/bell pepper and kale would also be great.
serves:
completely adjustable. per person i suggest half a standard punnet of cherry tomatoes, 2-3 cloves of garlic, one shallot, a handful of parsley, and 6 olives.
cook time:
15 minutes, including pasta cooking time
instructions:
  1. while your pasta is cooking, prep the ingredients: finely dice the garlic and parsley, and slice the shallot into rounds (they'll separate out during the cooking process.) slice your cherry tomatoes in half lengthwise (top down if they're spherical) and chop up any vegetables or chillis you want to add.
  2. when your pasta is done, save a little water, and then strain it and put it aside.
  3. keeping the burner on high, coat the base of your pasta saucepan with olive oil, and once it's hot, fry up the garlic, shallots, and parsley. (the fried parsley is the secret ingredient that makes this extra delicious.) at this stage you should also add a little salt, and any herbs and spices you want. i like using a bit of calabrian chilli paste, or dried chilli flakes, for heat. the best extra herb to add is thyme.
  4. once the shallots are soft and the parsley is nice and crispy, add the olives, and any other vegetables to soften. then add cherry tomatoes and tomato paste. turn down the heat and simmer.
  5. put the lid on to steam. the cherry tomatoes should generate their own water to create a nice smooth sauce, but if they're a bit dry (as ones from supermarkets often are), this is where you add your saved pasta water.
  6. take the lid off every now and then to stir, and once you see that the cherry tomatoes have disintegrated, you're basically done. if there's excess water, keep the lid off and stir continuously until it's reduced.
  7. turn off the burner but keep the saucepan on it. put the pasta back in the pan and toss through the sauce. serve with grated cheese!