Cooking dinner every night for different ages and appetites is one thing.
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Cooking → cook → ages
Trying to load it with fresh, healthy veg can be a whole other challenge.
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Trying → try → veg
For cookbook author and broadcaster Alice Zaslavsky, the answer lies in colour – literally.
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answer → lie → colour
Rather than trying to focus on individual nutrients, she takes a simpler approach by using whatever is in season and making the meal as vibrant as possible.
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meal → try → season
“If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by nutritional advice, here is an easy message to digest: make the focus loading up your diet with colour and variety,” Zaslavsky writes in her new cookbook Weeknights with Alice.
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Zaslavsky → feel → Alice
“We continue to discover more about the phyto-nutrients and bioactives contained within each unique hue.
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We → continue → hue
And it’s an easy remit for me to deliver on because more veg always means more colour!”
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veg → ’ → colour
The new collection includes 80 low-stress midweek dinners, each one starting with vegetables so you can follow the seasons or use up whatever’s in your crisper.
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whatever → include → crisper
Because vegetables form the bulk of the meals, with protein playing a lesser role, the recipes are more cost-effective too.
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recipes → form → role
Many are also served “family-style”, where each person can pick and choose what they want to eat, which encourages younger eaters to try new foods, and lets the cook sit down faster.
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cook → serve → foods
So whether home cooks are managing time pressures, fussy palates or budget constraints, the recipes are designed to ease the “persistent pinch-point” of weeknight cooking.
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recipes → manage → cooking
Here, Zaslavsky shares three recipes that hero vegetables in fresh ways, from a zesty spin on tuna mornay to a midweek version of spinach and cheese pan pies, and “meaty” fritters made from your favourite chargrilled brassica.
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that → share → brassica
Tuna mornay with salt and vinegar chippie scales
Sing it with me: When you stir creamy sauce with some tuna, of course, that’s a mornay!
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that → sing → course
If you grew up in Australia, you’ll probably be surprised to learn that tuna mornay is actually pretty exotic for anyone who didn’t, and one advantage of coming to it later in life is playing fast and loose with this canonical classic of Cucina Australiana.
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advantage → grow → Australiana
I’ve taken the best bits of a mornay (creamy, comforting, casserole), eliminated the margin for gluggy error by replacing the bechamel with a creme fraiche-based green sauce that’s full of zip and zest.
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that → take → zip
And it’s all topped off with a Friday night fish 𝄒n𝄒 chips vibe from the salt and vinegar crisps – bonus points if they’re crinkle-cut!
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they → top → crisps
INGREDIENTS
- 425g tin tuna in olive oil, drained (reserving the oil)
- 2 tbsp brined capers, drained
- 250g dried pasta shells
- 1 cup (140g) frozen peas
- 1 bunch broccolini, cut into 1cm pieces
- 150g shredded cheddar
- 165g packet of crinkly salt and vinegar crisps
- olive oil
Green sauce
- 1 bunch parsley
- 3-4 garlic cloves, peeled zest and juice of 1 lemon
- ⅓ cup (80ml) tuna oil (reserved from above)
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 200ml creme fraiche
METHOD
- Heat is on →
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Heat → drain → lemon
- Green with envy → To make the green sauce, roughly chop the parsley (to make it easier to blitz), then toss it in your food processor or blender.
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it → make → processor
Once the pasta water is at the boil, rain in the pasta, stirring about for the first minute or so to stop it clumping.
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it → rain → minute
- Bake it ’til you make it → Transfer to a ceramic baking dish or pie dish.
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you → bake → dish
Top with the crisps, standing them to jaunty attention (or crunch them over if you’re in a hurry).
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you → top → hurry
Drizzle over a lick of olive oil and bake for 10 minutes, until the cheese is golden and the sauce is bubbly.
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sauce → drizzle → minutes
You could enjoy this cold as a pasta salad the next day.
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You → enjoy → salad
The chippies will go a little soggy, so this is your permission slip to eat all the chips first!
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this → go → chips
Serves 4-6
Spinach and cheese pan pies with hot honey drizzle
These pan pies are a loose play on khachapuri imeruli, a type of Georgian cheese bread that’s a cousin to the iconic cheese and egg boats known as khachapuri adjaruli.
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that → ’ → adjaruli
Though traditionally an imeruli uses a yeasted dough to encase cheeses such as suluguni, I’ve adapted the dough into a speedy yoghurt flatbread and the cheeses to suit a midweek cook anywhere – you could even use a mix of pizza cheese and feta.
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you → use → cheese
And for a speedier shortcut, you could use shop-bought pizza dough … my favourite hack is buying some straight from my local pizza place!
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hack → use → place
Spinach breaks down to almost nothing as it cooks, so unless you have lots growing in the garden, use frozen spinach for recipes requiring a large amount.
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you → break → amount
If you have time, thaw the frozen spinach overnight in the fridge on kitchen towel, to absorb the liquid around the spinach as it melts and help it to better retain its colour and texture.
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it → have → colour
If you’re in a hurry, run a tap over the frozen spinach clumps.
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you → ’re → clumps
150g block of feta (creamy or crumbly, whatever you’ve got)
- 1 cup (100g) grated cheddar
- 100g firm mozzarella, grated
- 3 spring onions, greens finely sliced (reserve the whites for the salad)
- 1 tsp freshly cracked pepper
Hot honey drizzle
- ¼ cup (90g) mild-flavoured honey
- 1 tsp mild chilli flakes
Baby spinach salad
- 125g baby spinach
- 3 white spring onion stems (reserved from the filling), sliced on an angle
METHOD
- Dough! →
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you → get → angle
Combine the dough ingredients in a medium bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until it all forms a shaggy mess.
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it → combine → mess
You’ll want some extra flour on hand for the kneading.
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You → want → kneading
The dough’s ready when it’s smooth and springs back when you pop a finger pad into it.
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you → ’ → it
Place a clean tea towel over it while you make your filling.
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you → place → filling
squeeze out as much excess moisture as you can.
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you → squeeze → moisture
Cook gently for a few minutes, until the honey is warmed through and runny.
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honey → cook → minutes
Pop one-quarter of the filling mixture in the middle of the dough, then fold the edges over the filling so it’s covered, flattening down to seal it all together.
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it → pop → it
Try to avoid any holes here, otherwise the filling will escape.
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filling → try → holes
You can roll out all the pies here and keep them under a tea towel if prepping ahead or make the rest on the fly as you’re waiting for each to fry.
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each → roll → fly
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
