Two zero-stress family recipes from Julie Goodwin to help lighten the load

For someone who loves being in the kitchen as much as Julie Goodwin, it might be surprising to learn she doesn’t necessarily consider what ends up on the plate to be the most important part of cooking.

“In the grand scheme of things, the food is secondary,” the cook, author and presenter writes in her latest recipe collection.

“If you’re overloaded and under-resourced and not organised but you still want to see your kids’ faces light up and share a few minutes with them over dinner, then chuck a few snags on the barbie and call it a sausage sizzle night.”

You can always make up on the “green stuff” later on, she says. When you’re juggling the day-to-day demands of family life, cooking is about survival.

As Goodwin explains, this doesn’t necessarily change as children grow. When kids are younger, the question of “what’s for dinner” is a daily inevitability. Now that Goodwin’s own boys are grown, that question has become “who’s home for dinner”. That shift adds an extra layer of logistics to accommodate changing commitments and lifestyles: how many people will be eating, whether friends or partners will be coming over, and if they need to eat early or late.

Goodwin’s cookbook is about managing those fluctuating demands. Home for Dinner aims to make meal time as easy as possible by creating space and time for family to connect and check in with each other, and breaking down the “barriers that stand between us and a beautiful, beneficial daily ritual”. The collection includes tips and strategies alongside inexpensive recipes that can be prepped or cooked ahead and easily reheated, served in solo portions or stretched out for many people, and allow anyone in the household to pitch in.

Because ultimately, Goodwin says, if you share the food, you should share the load.

“Each person can pitch in to their own capabilities,” she writes. “You will see such a reward, not just from the meal but also from the lightening of what truly is, quite often, a serious burden on one member of the household. Give your housemates the gift of participation. You never know what passions, skills, future careers or hobbies you might be unlocking.”

– Megan Johnston

Chilli con carne

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 500g minced beef
• 2 brown onions, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 long green chillies, seeded and finely diced
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• ¼ cup (70g) tomato paste
• 800g can chopped tomatoes
• 2 x 400g cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• ½ tsp sea salt flakes
• ¼ tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 cup (250ml) beef stock

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180C fan-forced (200C conventional).
2. In a non-stick chef’s pan or large frypan over medium-high heat, place 1 tablespoon olive oil and add the mince. Spread mince over the bottom of the pan and leave it for about 1 minute, until a rich golden colour develops. Break up the mince with a wooden spoon and stir it until it is cooked through. Remove to a bowl.
3. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the remaining olive oil, then saute onion, garlic, chilli and spices until the onion is translucent.
4. Return the mince to the pan, add the tomato paste and saute for one minute, then add the tomatoes, kidney beans, salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low. Add the beef stock and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.
5. Serve with rice or tortillas, and sour cream.

Serves 4

Fridge-shaker frittata

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup vegetables, sliced and diced (onion, capsicum, mushrooms, asparagus, zucchini, corn kernels, spring onions, cooked pumpkin or sweet potato etc)
• up to ½ cup protein, sliced or diced, optional (leftover cooked bacon, ham, salami, salmon or smoked salmon, feta, tofu etc)
• 6 eggs
• 3 tbsp thickened cream
• ½ cup (60g) grated tasty cheese
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp ground white pepper

METHOD

1. In a 26cm non-stick frypan over medium-high heat, place olive oil and add vegetables. Saute, stirring, until beginning to soften. Stir through added protein, if using.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and cream then stir in the tasty cheese, salt and pepper.
3. Pour the egg mixture into the frypan and reduce the heat to low. Stir for only a moment, to evenly distribute the ingredients around the pan.
4. Cook over low heat until the egg is setting and golden brown on the bottom. This should take around 5 minutes. You can check this by very carefully lifting an edge with a silicone spatula.
5. When the frittata has mostly set, release it from the pan with a spatula and invert it onto a plate. Using a second plate, invert it again, then put the pan over the top and return it to the pan so it is now upside down to finish cooking. Alternatively, once the frittata has set on the bottom you can finish it off by placing the pan under a hot grill to cook on top.

Note:

“Fridge-shaker” refers to the use of leftovers – shake the refrigerator, and whatever falls out goes in the frittata! This makes it extremely economical as well as being super-quick to cook. It can be eaten hot for dinner, or cold for lunch or a snack.

This is an edited extract from Home for Dinner by Julie Goodwin, published by Penguin, RRP $49.99. Photography by Steve Brown.

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