Thai Style Beef Salad by Annabel Langbein

Ingredients

4-6 thick cut frying steaks such as sirloin or rump (about 150-200g per person)
splash of fish sauce
salt and ground black pepper
1 tbsp oil
3 Lebanese cucumbers or 1 telegraph cucumber, cut into small batons
1 small red onion, halved and finely sliced
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
24 cherry tomatoes, halved
40 mint leaves, torn
4 tbsp coriander, chopped
⅔ cup Chilli Jam
4 tbsp lime juice

Directions

Rub the steaks with the fish sauce and season them with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large frypan and cook the steaks for 2-3 minutes on each side or until they are done to your liking.
They can also be grilled over high heat on the barbecue.

Rest the meat for at least 5 minutes after cooking before angle slicing thinly across the grain. If preparing the meat ahead of time, make the salad in advance and slice the steaks just before serving.

Place the sliced meat and any cooking juices in a mixing bowl with the prepared cucumber, red onion, spring onions, tomatoes, mint and coriander.

Mix together the Chilli Jam and lime juice, pour over the salad and toss to combine.

Chilli Jam by Annabel Langbein

Ingredients

1 head garlic, cloves peeled
6-8 long red chillies (eg Cayenne or Serrano), stems removed and flesh roughly chopped, seeds left in
3 big thumbs (100g) fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
Optional: 2 double kaffir lime leaves, deveined
2 1/2 cups caster sugar
6 tbsp water
finely grated zest of 4 limes
1/2 cup rice vinegar
3 tbsp Asian fish sauce (nam pla)
1 tbsp soy sauce

Directions

Sterilise some screw top jars and their metal lids.

Purée the garlic, chillies, ginger and kaffir leaves, if using, to a coarse paste. Place the paste in a saucepan with the sugar, water, lime zest, rice vinegar, fish sauce and soy sauce.

Stir the mixture over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves, then boil it for about 10 minutes until it is reduced by a third. It will bubble up like jam.

Spoon the hot jam into the sterilised jars until it is filled to within 3mm of the top. Carefully cover with boiling water until the jars overflow and seal with the screw lids

Easter French Toast by Annabel Langbein

Ingredients

½ cup milk
¼ cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
finely grated rind of ½ orange
4 hot cross buns, each sliced into 3-4 slices
2-3 tbsp butter to cook
To serve: sliced bananas, sliced oranges, grilled bacon, maple syrup

Directions

Beat milk with sugar to dissolve. Beat in eggs, vanilla essence and orange rind. Dip slices of bread into the liquid to coat both sides. Leave to stand in mixture turning now and then, for at least 5 minutes or up to 15 minutes before cooking.

Heat butter in a heavy frying pan over a medium heat and cook hot cross bun pieces several pieces at a time, turning as they brown and crisp to cook the other side. Accompany with sliced bananas and oranges, crisp fried bacon and maple syrup.

Roasted fish with lemon-caper crumb by Annabel Langbein

Ingredients

2 canned anchovies (I use D’Amico or Ortiz)
1 tbsp capers
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 generous tbsp butter
2 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
20g grated parmesan
100g (2 thick slices) crustless artisan bread, eg sourdough, cut into chunks
18-24 spears asparagus
4 thick fillets blue nose or hapuku
salt and grinds of pepper
To serve: roasted cherry tomatoes or carrots

Directions

Place anchovies, capers, lemon zest, butter, parsley and parmesan in a food processor and blitz to a puree.

Add bread and pulse mixture several times to form a coarse crumb. Don’t let it get too fine. Put to one side until ready to cook.

Cook asparagus in boiling water for 1 minute. Cool under cold running water then drain.

Preheat oven to 220°C. Place fish and asparagus in a lined baking dish and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle fish with a little of the crumb mix and spread out the rest in a separate shallow baking dish.

Bake fish, asparagus and crumbs until fish is just cooked (time will depend on thickness of fillets . about 10 minutes). Crumbs should be golden and crisp . if required, leave in the oven for an extra minute or two while fish rests. Serve fish sprinkled with extra crumbs. Accompany with asparagus and roasted cherry tomatoes.