Will & Steve Home Cook, Aspiring Chef

Will & Steve Home Cook, Aspiring Chef

More than 100 spectacular recipes suitable for both the home cook and the aspiring chef from the winners of My Kitchen Rules 2015, the Gourmet Pommies, Will and Steve.

Home Cook, Aspiring Chef contains more than 100 recipes inspired by Will and Steve's passion for freshness, flavour, and damn good food. A combination of their English heritage, their appreciation for Australian produce – and a desire to reinvent the classics – their innovative twists on traditional and time-honoured techniques, result in some spectacular recipes.

Taking apart such popular retro dishes as Coronation Chicken, Scotch Eggs, Steak Sandwiches and Apple Crumble, they reimagine them, with exciting results; unexpected textures and beautifully balanced flavor-ways, combine in recipes that are both original and delicious.

Each chapter features a detailed masterclass that focuses on an important technique, such as pickling, or making parfait, and shows how even the most timid of cooks can master dishes like crispy pork belly.

In the -Home Cook, Aspiring Chef' chapter, Will and Steve showcase their different approach to food. Using the same ingredients to create two contrasting dishes – Will's hearty but beautifully executed home cooking and Steve's meticulous, elegant gourmet fare – they illustrate different techniques and approaches.

The book features six chapters: Brunch, Soups and Sarnies; Shared Plates; Home Cook, Aspiring Chef; Dinner; Sides and Salads; and Sweets and Desserts. Beautifully photographed by William Meppem, one of Australia's premium food and lifestyle photographers, the flavour-packed creativity and inventiveness of these recipes, makes this one of the must-have cookbooks this year, for aspiring chefs and home cooks alike.

Will and Steve appeared on hit Australian cooking show My Kitchen Rules in 2015 and were the first all-male team to take out the title in the history of the show. Over 3.1 million people tuned in to watch the final nationally and the show has since been released internationally with love coming in for the boys from all corners of the world. Since their win, they have formed their own business, The Gourmet Pommies Pty Ltd, and are actively pursuing a career in the food and television industry.

Will & Steve Home Cook, Aspiring Chef
Harlequin
RRP: $39.99

Will's Shepherd's Pie

WILL This is my go-to dish if I need something filling, deliciously tasty and relatively quick for when people come over at the last minute. When Steve and I started cooking together he would often ask me what I'd made for dinner the night before and it's fair to say that shepherd's pie came up a few too many times for his liking. Steve was simply trying to make me realise that I needed to mix it up, expand my repertoire and push myself a bit more. Now I just don't tell him when I make it. Comfort food is my favourite kind of food.

 

Prep and Cook Time: 70 minutes
Serves: 6

Ingredients

Filling:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, finely diced
2 carrots, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1kg lamb mince
1 cup red wine
1 tablespoon cornflour
300ml beef stock
1 bunch of thyme, leaves picked
1 bunch of rosemary, leaves picked
1 bunch of mint, leaves picked and roughly chopped
200g frozen peas

Potato Topping:
2kg desiree potatoes, chopped
100g butter
sea salt flakes and freshly
ground black pepper
1 cup thickened cream, warmed

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
To make the potato topping, in a large saucepan, cover the potato with cold salted water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potato is soft enough to mash, 20–25 minutes. Drain the potato in a colander and allow it to sit on top of the saucepan while it's still on a low heat for a minute or two. This heat helps dry out the potatoes slightly. Now place the potatoes back in the pan and begin mashing. Add the butter, a large pinch of salt and pepper and half the warm cream. Continue mashing and incorporating the rest of the cream until you have a nice smooth mash.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan or wok on medium–high heat, add the onion, carrot and a pinch of salt and sauté for 3–5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and sauté for a further 2 minutes. Add the mince to the pan, stir to break up and fry for 5 minutes until brown. Deglaze the pan with the red wine and flambé. To flambé, tip the pan carefully away from you but towards an open flame, allow the vapours to ignite and keep the pan at arm's length. Allow the alcohol to burn off naturally before you continue cooking.
Sprinkle the cornflour over the meat mixture and stir constantly for a few minutes to cook out the flour and remove any lumps. Pour in the stock, add the herbs and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes to thicken the gravy and intensify the flavour. Remove from the heat, add the peas and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to an ovenproof dish.
Carefully spoon the mashed potato onto the mince and spread out unevenly and bake for 30 minutes. Finish under the grill for a golden brown topping.

 

Corn Fritters with Avocado, Coffee and Maple Bacon

A staple of every brunch menu is the reliable corn fritter! We've jammed lots of gorgeous flavours into ours that will really set them apart from your local café's. It was all looking a bit too healthy so we added a glaze to the bacon for a little -je ne sais quoi'!

Prep and Cook Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients
olive oil, for frying

Corn Fritter:
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
4 tablespoons plain flour
1 cup corn kernels, cooked
100g feta, crumbled
1⁄2 fennel bulb, diced
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 small handful of dill, finely chopped
zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1⁄2 lemon
sea salt flakes and freshly
ground black pepper

Smashed Avocado:
1 avocado
1 small handful of coriander leaves
squeeze of lemon juice

Coffee and Maple Bacon:
1 teaspoon instant coffee
2 tablespoons boiling water
2 tablespoons maple syrup
6 thick slices of middle bacon, rind removed

Method
To make the fritter batter, in a large bowl, mix the eggs and egg yolk with the salt and flour until combined and smooth. Fold in the corn, feta, fennel, spring onion, dill, lemon zest and juice and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
To make the smashed avocado, spoon the avocado flesh onto a small plate. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, the coriander and lemon juice and mash roughly with a fork. Set aside.
Turn your oven grill to maximum temperature.
To make the coffee and maple bacon, combine the instant coffee with the boiling water and leave for a few minutes to allow the coffee to dissolve, then add the maple syrup. Place the bacon on a foil-covered baking tray and brush each side with the coffee and maple glaze. Grill the bacon on both sides until crispy.
Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium–high heat and spoon in four equal portions of the fritter batter. Shape into small rounds with the back of a spoon and cook for 3 minutes until golden brown on the underside. Flip and cook for 2–3 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
Serve 2–3 corn fritters per person with a large spoonful of the smashed avocado on top and a side of the coffee and maple bacon.

 

Will & Steve Home Cook, Aspiring Chef
Harlequin
RRP: $39.99