Original subtitles

Tim, we get to be creative with vegies today,

and this one speaks my language because

most people don't eat enough vegies,

so, it's always great to find some ways to be super creative

and get more vegies into your diet.

Fantastic. Now, you know I love meat, Jaq...

I do. ..but there's no meat today.

I will be making

a mushroom and asparagus frittata.

I'm excited for that. Mm!

Both vegies I absolutely love. Love it.

I'm gonna go with a vegie no-meat ball

with a tomato passata and a pesto rice.

So, lots of good flavours in there.

A really easy vegie-for-meat swap

that can satisfy everyone in the family too.

Fantastic. No-meat ball?

That's right. I am intrigued.

(LAUGHS)

(THEME MUSIC PLAYS)

Jaq, you know what I love about frittatas?

You can put whatever you want into it.

They're so versatile

and a great way to use up leftovers

or any vegetables that are starting to come to the end of their life.

That's so true. Mm.

So, today we're doing a mixed mushroom and asparagus frittata.

It's gonna be quick, super simple

but super-duper tasty.

I'm excited for this! Alright.

Now, when I said there was no meat today, it was correct,

but there is lots of butter and lots of cheese.

And you love butter.

I do love butter

'cause butter equals flavour,

especially when you're using a true organic butter.

Australian cows.

And when you use good-quality butter,

things just taste better.

So, I don't want to shock you,

but I'm gonna go with about

150g of butter into our pan.

Would you be able to start ripping up...

Of course!

All I want to do is just tear these beautiful mushrooms up.

We've got a real mixture of mushrooms here

from shimeji and enoki

and oyster mushrooms. How good!

I love mushrooms,

and they do provide that meatiness to a dish

where otherwise there isn't meat.

Lots and lots of flavour

in this variety as well.

Now, of course, butter and thyme

are a match made in heaven.

They absolutely love each other.

So, I've got some beautiful fresh thyme

that I'm just going to

slice up.

And get a good whack of our fresh thyme into that butter

to really infuse and become friends with the butter.

Now, asparagus.

What are your thoughts on the old asparagus?

I love asparagus, actually,

and, because they're such a beautiful seasonal vegie as well,

you really can pick them up in the springtime

when they're lovely and fresh and crisp.

I'm gonna grab a wooden spoon

and just start to mix our butter.

That's getting nice and gorgeous.

Now, these mushrooms can literally go straight in.

We really want to get them sizzling.

Yeah, just tear 'em in.

So, with this asparagus, Jaq, I just want

about 3-centimetre pieces. Yeah.

So, I'm just going to just roughly chop it.

I want it nice and chunky in our frittata.

Beautiful.

Now, at these ends I'm just gonna chop them a little bit smaller

because I don't want to waste them. Definitely not.

Asparagus is too good to waste.

You know, actually, if you eat asparagus raw,

then it retains something called

the prebiotic fibre.

And that's the type of fibre

that our gut absolutely loves.

So, some raw asparagus

finely shaved into salads

is a really nice way to get those fibres in and feed our gut health.

Now I've got some chopped garlic here.

I'm ready for it to go in.

See you later.

Asparagus spears can go in.

Eggs.

We've got eight beautiful free-range eggs.

That's gonna form the basis for our delicious frittata.

So, they can all go into our jug.

Sure can!

Asparagus goes into the pan.

Give that a little mix around.

Try not to make a horrible mess, like me.

Now these are frying off nicely.

Now, I don't want to overcook them

because they will continue to cook in our frittata dish

as it's baking in the oven.

So, a good hit of salt.

If you want to give them... Whisk that?

..a good whisk,

I've got some thickened cream here

that I'm just going to pour in

as you whisk.

Lovely.

And a good hit of black pepper

into our asparagus and our mushies.

What else can I get into these eggs? Anything?

Yes. Could you just finely chop some chives?

Yes.

Our mushroom and asparagus are done,

so, I'm just going to turn the heat off.

Now, in the bottom of our pan, Jaq...

I've got some baby spinach here. Yep.

I'm not even gonna bother cooking this.

This is just going to form the bottom layer for our frittata.

So, that can go straight into our dish.

Then we can go on with our mushroom and asparagus mix.

Gosh, that smells good.

Ooh, yeah!

It's probably the butter, I reckon.

(BOTH LAUGH)

And just spread that around our dish,

making sure

every piece of frittata

will have lots of mushies and lots of asparagus

in there.

We've got a couple of cheeses to go on our frittata.

So, a nice cheddar.

Which, Jaq, if you could grate

that cheddar for me, that would be fantastic.

I'll grab those eggs.

Thank you for doing that. Pleasure!

So, they can pour all over.

Ohh, gorgeous!

Now, with this fetta cheese,

I'm just going to crumble it

over the top of our frittata.

If you want to just sprinkle

that cheddar all over the top of the frittata as well.

Can do.

Let's get cheesy.

And I'm just going to literally crumble

this whole block over the top.

And go for it.

Now, to really accentuate that beautiful butter flavour,

I'm just going to dot some butter

on the top as well. Oh, Tim!

So, as it cooks, the butter is going to melt

and sort of help to really caramelise the top of our frittata as well.

I wouldn't think anything less from you.

(LAUGHS) So, just a just a few dots

of our beautiful organic butter.

Aussie grass-fed cows.

Come on.

Get on there.

You can see this butter is really beautiful quality as well

because there's that richness in the colour.

It's actually yellow... Yeah.

..which it's supposed to be! Yeah.

Now I'm gonna bang this in the oven, 200 degrees,

25 minutes or so,

until that frittata is just set

and all the top is melty and gooey,

ready for the dinner table.

Very ready for this.

So, our frittata's had about half an hour in the oven.

How good does that look?! JAQ: It SMELLS good.

I'm gonna cut us off a nice slab.

Plenty of melty cheese on there.

And the butter has made it all beautiful and caramelised

on the top as well.

That was the idea. (LAUGHS)

I'm looking forward to the spinach

as the base as well,

because, when you put it together,

I'd usually, you know, oil or butter

the tin that I'm cooking it in,

but because of the spinach

and all of the butter that you have in the frittata as well,

you don't really need it, do you?

That's looking sensational.

So, there you go.

Packed full of those vegetables.

Mushroom and asparagus.

Yum! Nice and cheesy.

Buttery.

That's what I want on a midweek meal.

I'm in!

Alright, let's get in there.

Get some mushroom and asparagus.

Bit of everything. Bit of everything.

That's delicious.

I love the combo of the cheeses.

The fetta, the cheddar.

I love asparagus,

so, this one is 100% a recipe for me.

Aww.

But with the mushrooms and the baby spinach base -

absolute cracker.

Well done.

And I think I really encourage those at home

to try out some different types of mushrooms.

But when they're cooked in all that gorgeous butter, it is a win-win.

Butter makes everything better?

Yes!

Tim, no doubt when you hear 'meatballs' you're gonna think meat.

Usually.

So, I'm gonna take you down the vegie NO-meat balls...

I love it!

..and show you how to pack lots of different ingredients

that really enhance the flavour

of simple things like tofu and lentils.

Look, there's a bit going on, but we'll make it happen.

This is a silken tofu, which is going to form the base of this.

And we're just gonna get all of the ingredients into the food processor

to start,

along with some brown lentils.

So, both are going to form

the protein in this dish,

which is really important

because vegetarian shouldn't be minimal protein.

You still need to get your protein in there

in order for it to be a healthy, balanced diet.

Yeah.

Then add some garlic because, of course, flavour.

Of course.

Not a meatball without some garlic.

And some dried herbs.

I've got dried basil

and also dried oregano.

Now, are they just canned lentils or...

Either-or. Yeah!

I always have lots of tins of lentils and other beans in the cupboard

to make simple vegetarian meals...

Yeah! ..because sometimes cooking them

can just be that little bit of extra time that you may not have.

That's right. This is nutritional yeast.

It's beautiful, it's got a great source of vitamin B12,

which is also important in a vegetarian diet.

But it also adds in that umami flavour,

which is a great way to tie in

all of the herbs and spices and umami into the dish.

Yeah. That's massive for me.

Out of all the flavours, umami is the one that I crave the most.

Yeah, no, and I think most people do too.

And some fresh parsley to finish. Gorgeous.

Of course, if you only had dried herbs on hand,

then just go with that.

And then a nice big mountain of baby spinach.

Beautiful.

Again, something I like to think about in a vegetarian diet

is how to get iron-rich foods in there

because that's one of the nutrients that is typically highest in meat,

so, in vego diets

we really need to look at how we get iron-rich foods in there.

So, the combo of both the lentils, the tofu and the spinach

is a really well-iron-packed meatball...

..NO-meat ball! Yeah.

(LAUGHS) Can you grab me some olive oil?

And that'll be our last component.

A little bit of salt and pepper too. Of course.

Need about a tablespoon of olive oil in here.

Just give it a good drizzle.

And then, of course, season it.

Absolutely.

With the herbs and spices you should get lots of nice flavour in there.

And then, really, it's just about blending it up.

So, keep it simple.

Love it.

That's it? That's it. Nice.

You don't want to over-blend the ingredients.

You still want a bit of guts in there...

A bit of texture. ..a little bit of texture.

Yeah. Love it.

So, that's all we really need.

Then we'll get it into a bowl

and add our remaining ingredients,

which is what's going to help

all of these ones hold it all together.

So, this is really about the flavour here

with all the herbs, with the lentils,

with the garlic, the extra-virgin olive oil.

And then to make it hold -

some almond meal instead of some breadcrumbs

because I thought let's make this recipe gluten-free as well.

Why not? Yeah.

And some cooked quinoa. Again, gluten-free.

A lovely way also

to get not only your grains

but also quinoa has a great amino acid profile.

So, that's another way to get your protein in.

And, I'll admit, I always have a bit of quinoa sitting in the fridge

ready to throw into salads

or to do something like this quickly,

to have as a base for cake.

So, that's kind of a cool way to do it.

So, you can see

all the ingredients have come together

and it's pulled it in to make it a much thicker consistency.

Yeah.

So, we want to cover that in some Glad Wrap

and pop it into the fridge

for about 25 to 30 minutes

so that it really does glue together well

because there's no breadcrumbs in there, right...

No. ..or a flour.

So, traditional ingredients that would glue a meatball together.

we're making ours gluten-free.

So, we'll pop it into the fridge for about 25 to 30 minutes to set.

OK, so, the mix is set.

It's been 25 minutes or so.

Cool. And you can see

it's gelled together beautifully.

Yeah.

And then we need about a quarter-of-a-cup measure.

We're going to measure our balls onto the tray.

And, look, you don't need to be too rough with these ones.

It is more of a gentle mixture.

Gentle. So, you really... it's just about

scooping, making sure it's firmly packed,

and then getting it into your hands...

Actually, you should probably wet your hands a bit before doing this.

Oh, yeah. That's a good idea. Just giving it a little...

..a little sculpt and then gently laying it onto the tray.

And that's all you have to do. How cute!

Yeah! Let's make the rest of it. Shall I have a go?

Yes. Alright!

Go for it.

Is that OK? You passed the test.

Yes!

Alright, we're gonna get the rest of the tray of these done

and then give it a spray with some extra-virgin olive oil,

pop it in the oven at 180 for around 20 to 25 minutes.

And in that time we can cook our rice

to then toss our pesto through it and finish the dish.

Tim, our rice is cooked,

so, can you do me a favour

and stir through a bit of pesto through the rice?

And you can just do that to taste.

I love a beautiful fresh pesto

from the fridge

because, I think, the flavours in it

and they get to use extra-virgin olive oil,

they're just that much better.

So, always pick up a good-quality fresh pesto.

And it's a nice way

to get more of this Italian flavour into the dish as well

pretty easily by mixing it through rice.

And as soon as that pesto hit the hot rice, you can just smell it.

It's gorgeous. Yeah. It's a good one, isn't it?

What a great little tip. I've never done that before.

Now, I've warmed up some tomato passata,

which I've literally just poured from a bottle

rather than trying to get too fancy

and do too many things on the stove and in the oven.

Let's just keep it simple

because there's enough flavour going on

in the rice and in the vego meatballs, or no-meat balls, sorry,

to bring this dish to life.

Yeah, if you just spread it out

so our no-meat balls

have a little place to land.

A little place to rest. A little bed.

Alright, and these are cooked

and they're ready to pop on.

What a great colour. Yeah!

Yeah. Like Hulk meatballs.

My son might eat them if we call them 'Hulk no-meat balls'.

It's funny, if you change the name,

how things can happen, isn't it? (LAUGHS) Yeah.

A little bit of tomato passata over the top.

Now, if you wanted to keep this

100% plant-based,

then, of course, choose a plant-based pesto.

Yeah.

And you could use a plant-based or vegan cheese.

If you want to mix things up and get the cheese in,

then you go in with your traditional parmigiano.

Ooh.

And get that over the top.

And then a good grind

of black pepper to finish, please, Tim.

Got ya.

And that's it! Wow!

How good does that look? Yeah!

So, a good meat-free meal.

Lots of good flavours.

Lots of great

nutritious ingredients in there.

Time to tuck in. I can't wait.

(LAUGHS)

One for you. Thank you.

Let's try.

There we go. The meatballs

and the rice

are perfectly cooked.

Get some tomato passata.

They are definitely a softer meatball

because they don't have meat in them.

So, we want them to be soft and just that gentle texture.

But the flavour has lots of punch.

You're right. It does have lots of punch.

And I really love the consistency

with the quinoa.

It almost has a meat-like consistency,

but no-meat balls.

I love them.

Great option for a meat-free Monday or any night of the week, really.

So, I have to admit this is one of my guilty pleasures, this dish.

It is naughty

in every way.

Loaded garlic bread.

Firstly, who doesn't love a garlic bread?

Secondly, who doesn't like to load all the unnecessary stuff into it

to make it even better?

So, I'm gonna start off by making a garlic butter,

and all I've done so far

is I've confit off my garlic in oil.

You can wrap it in foil,

a little bit of oil,

or you can use those little copper pots,

which I'd just submerge it in oil,

put it in the oven, 180 degrees,

40 minutes, OK?

And then you end up with a really nice confit garlic still as a bulb.

Your garlic bread won't be as harsh.

It won't be, you know...

You'll still be able to have a little bit of romance that night.

Chopped parsley.

I've just got some slightly softened butter.

Just leave it out at room temperature a couple of hours

before you need to make it.

And then our garlic

should just squeeze out.

I love garlic.

Just such a beautiful flavour.

Which is why I'm using two.

And, look, if you do go through the effort

of doing that with your garlic,

it lasts so long.

OK? Because it's cooked, it's in oil. It will literally last you.

And it's a great way to add extra flavour to your dish or any dishes.

So, we're just gonna mash that up now.

And you can smell that garlic

coming together straightaway into the butter,

those beautiful aromats.

And we're gonna add just a little bit of salt in there.

And a little bit of pepper as well.

And that's it.

So, we can put that to one side for now.

And with the bread element with garlic bread

a lot of people like to use the baguettes.

And traditionally it is baguettes. Which is absolutely fine. Up to you.

I like to use a big, old crusty bread.

And what I do is then just slice it down two different ways,

and we're gonna create what is almost a pull-apart.

Spin it.

And then we go again.

So, you're gonna get this beautiful garlic bread

which you can basically rip pieces out of.

Is there anything better than crusty bread?

Now...

I'm a meat man. Let's be honest.

I've got some beautiful vegetarian dishes.

But I love my meat.

And, for me, this is almost like a cheat pizza, in a sense.

And I've got some beautiful champagne ham

and some mild salami,

which are just great

in this bread.

So, we're gonna literally fill this now with the butter.

And there's no pretty way of doing it.

Open it up and get it in there.

OK. The more the better.

All of that butter should be gone by the end of it.

You don't need to spread it because it will melt.

And then we're gonna follow with the hams,

the salami.

And then we're gonna get some mozzarella in there,

some parmesan.

And we're gonna bake it in the oven.

If you're gonna do it, do it right.

It speaks for itself, really, doesn't it?

That beautiful bake on there.

15 minutes in the oven.

So simple. Delicious.

It's a showstopper.

You put it down in the middle of the table, guys,

help yourself, pull it apart.

This is my gift to you.

Captions by Red Bee Media