At the time of recording, Simon had been working on some incredible-sounding cookbooks including the one from Masterchef Winner Natty Wolf, which is out now.

It inspired him to cook up the SATAY recipe you've always needed!

SIMON'S EASY HOME SATAY

1/2 bunch coriander

1 fresh red chilli

1/2 clove garlic

3tbs crunchy peanut butter

lug of soy sauce

2cm nub of fresh ginger

juice and zest of 1 lime

WHIZZ IN THE BLENDER AND TASTE! What does it need more of? Taste and create! Thread chicken thigh fillet chunks onto skewers, coat well in the satay marinade, and bake in the oven at 180C until cooked through. Serve on rice. Yum!

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NOT ONE TO BRAG, our humble food expert Simon Davis has spent a number of days hanging out at Australia's Best Restaurant in his day job as a cookbook publisher.

You'll hear more about the restaurant on today's episode of the food fix but the link is here if you urgently need to make a booking!

We've also got the sauce he's inspired by. It's not the restaurant version, it's one us mere humans can probably get going on our home stoves.

Agrodolce sauce

Small saucepan, into 2 warmed tablespoons of olive oil, add 2 chopped garlic cloves, one chopped shallot, sautee them down for about 5 minutes until golden brown

1/2 cup red wine balsamic vinegar

1 tsp capers

1/4 raisins

1/4 cup pine nuts

stir to combine along with 3tbs honey, simmer down for 4 mins

To finish the sauce, add 2tbs butter and season with salt and pepper.

Serve on radiccio or grilled steak!

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THERE IS NO CACTUS IN THIS RECIPE!

Nik Sharma is a pretty inspiring UK cook and his book that Yumi talks about can be found here.

This pasta is really worth trying though - almost everything in it probably already exists in your pantry, and it's absolutely packed with flavours.

Orecchiette Pantry Pasta

Get a big pot of salted water on the boil and add in 500g of orecchiette pasta.

While that's cooking, warm up 3tbs good olive oil and to it, add 1.5 tsp smashed up cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp fennel seeds, a clove of finely grated garlic and a teaspoon of Aleppo, Maras or Urfa red pepper flakes.

Scoop out a half cup of pasta water from the pot when your orecchiette still has a couple of minutes to go.

Dissolve 3tbs white miso into the pasta water. Pour that into the frying spice mix. Add 285g frozen peas to the pasta water and bring it back to the boil. Drain well once your pasta timer sounds. Combine the pasta+peas with the oil and spices.

Then add an absolute ton of grated parmesan cheese and some snipped chives.

Serve immediately.

(This also makes great leftovers!)

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To sweeten your work day, Yumi has a shortbread recipe from one of her favourite cookbooks, and another hack if you're a HOME-MADE GRANOLA OBSESSIVE.

The cookbook is PASS IT ON by Shobha Kalyan and Keryn Kalyan and it's out of print but you may be able to get a copy if you contact them via their Facebook.

Cardamom Shortbread

110g ghee, at room temp

90g caster sugar

2tsp ground cardamom

50g pea flour

50g fine semolina

80g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

shelled pistachios or peeled almonds to decorate

Cream the ghee and sugar with the cardamom powder until light and fluffy. Sift everything else on top of the mixture and gently combine, taking care not to overmix.

Roll 22 heaped teaspoons into balls and space out on an oven tray. Lightly dot a pistachio or almond in the middle of each biscuit.

Bake in a pre-heated 160C oven for 20 minutes. Eat while driving!

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In this reheated episode, Yumi gets somewhat misty-eyed about all the travel she's not doing but would like to, where IS the best place for food and eating?

Meanwhile, you can get some nourishment with minimal stress making the following:

WALNUT PESTO!

100g walnuts

garlic oil

3 tbs chopped fresh rosemary

50g grated Pecorino Romano

4tbs walnut oil

Serve on Rana Pasta! (Which Yumi famously misspells out loud during this episode, lol. ) Or whatever filled pasta you can get your hands on.

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We have to replay this episode because it's embarrassing and embarrassment is best shared.

It's not every day that you get to interview an acclaimed and genuinely cool English author who can sell out rooms here in Australia... but that's what Yumi was doing (for one of her other jobs) when something DEEPLY CRINGE AND FOOD-RELATED occurred. You can hear all about it on this reheated episode! LOLSSSSS.

You'll also hear about this SALAD - from an amazing website I use all the time.

1 tomato

2 tbs ponzu

1 tbs toasted sesame seeds

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In this reheated episode, both your hosts had entered the Pod recording studio still high from brilliant restaurant experiences.

Yumi had been to the fairly new Bessie's in Surry Hills, Sydney, while Simon ate again at chef Josh Niland's sublime St Peter in Paddo. BOTH EXPERIENCES WERE TRANSFORMATIVE.

What did we bring home to share with you on this podcast?

Burgers!

REQUIREMENTS?

800g best quality, butcher-supplied mince

slices of aged cheddar

pita pockets

10g of salt, freshly ground pepper

and a BBQ.

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CHRISTMAS WAS HECTIC, and now we need a way to feed ourselves that somehow acknowledges that we can, in fact, stand to take it a bit easy on our tummies this time of year!

On this consistently top-rating food podcast, your hosts try not to cack themselves laughing while they explain a way to make life easy for the home chef while getting good foods into your kids via a food they trust: TOAST.

ELVIS TOAST

Butter a well toasted slice of sourdough.

Add a generous slathering of crunchy peanut butter...

then top generously with sliced banana.

Finish with a tiny amount of very dark chocolate, finely grated over the top!

MAGIC TOAST

Spread a well-toasted slice of sourdough bread with hummus.

Crumble over some fetta.

Season with salt and cracked pepper.

Serve.

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