Bulghur with Mixed greens - Vegan, DF

Making this with buckwheat groats would make it GF also... This has a great technique for tenderising kale! The mix of chard and kale gives a depth of flavour, there's a nice chilli hit from Harissa and chilli flakes. This is deceptively simple and very tasty!

Vegetariain Mograbieh - Vegan, DF and can be GF

Mograbieh is another name for pearl couscous or fregola - good ideas just pop up all over the place with different names eh? Again, you could substitute buckwheat or arborio rice for a GF version. The flavour profile is definitively Middle Eastern, with Lebanese 7 spice blend leading the charge. The couscous is cooked with onion and bayleaf, and there are chopped hazelnuts as well as chickpeas to make this subtantial enough for dinner. (and then lunch...)

Deconstructed hummus - Vegan, DF and GF

Another hands-on food process here: removing the skins from the chickpeas. Whether you're cooking dried chickpeas or using tinned ones, ruffling them up vigorously makes the thin opaque skins lift off very easily - is worth the effort! The creamy topping is tahini whisked with iced water, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic to a mayonnaise consistency, with a generous helping of flatleaf parsley folded through it. The key is to leave the tahini dressing to sit for about an hour before serving - otherwise it's a bit pungent. But resting it mellows it out beautifully. 

Chilli cornbread - vegetarian only

This is super simple to make and such a good thing - great for picnics, lunches, dinner while hanging out at the beach... it's good hot or cool or warm. And it makes a generous amount, so you can test all of the above assertions if you want to! The cornbread has fresh corn, capsicum, chilli, spring onions and fresh herbs folded into it. It has eggs, milk, yoghurt and cheese so not readily dairy free. It's made with cornmeal and flour - the flour could be swapped for a GF flour mix without any problem. This is a very good shout...

Braised lamb with tomato - DF and GF

My favourite cut of lamb for this is rump, but if you can't find rump you could go for a piece of shoulder or if you need something bigger, a butterflied leg...  The lamb is marinated for an hour with thyme, garlic and olive oil, then seared all over. Then add the tomato, lower the heat, cover and simmer/braise for a bit. Uncover, add sliced courgette and simmer some more. Simple and delicious...

Pork and Polenta - GF

This is dinner on the table in half an hour; is also yum. I've used pork schnitzel, whacking it with a tenderiser (in this case, a milk bottle) and cutting it across the schnitzel into strips. The pieces are dredged in chickpea flour seasoned with ground coriander, and there's capsicum, courgette, tomato and red onion in there also. The soft polenta is creamy and delicious. Hmmmm.