Notes about Recipes in this book

• Coconut bread

  • Breadcrumbs on March 01, 2015

    p. 30 – A lovely moist breakfast bread. I subbed coconut milk for regular milk to give the loaf a further coconut flavour boost and the end result was quite yummy. BG suggests the bread (which is more like a cake really) can be toasted but we just enjoyed it straight up for breakfast. I do think it would be quite nice with a lime marmalade atop though so there may be a toasted slice in my future. Coconut always reminds me of the Caribbean so suffice to say this recipe made the house smell a little bit irie on a raw winter's day! Photos here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/1006474?commentId=9456957#9456957

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p26. A nice sweet bread/cake. Simple to put together. Tastes nice with lime marmalade as suggested in recipe.

  • Hellyloves2cook on May 13, 2014

    A very nice recipe that is more cakey than bread. Toasted it is delicious. I have eaten this in his restaurant several times in Sydney many years ago when I lived there. Great to recapture those good times at home:-)

  • KarinaFrancis on October 27, 2013

    Very nice, I made it for a friend visiting from Jamaica and it got a big thumbs up

  • rstuart on April 29, 2014

    Wonderful recipe.. I have made this a few times, and it's very reliable and tasty!

• Banana maple porridge with buttered apples

  • Melanie on August 03, 2011

    p33. By cooking the banana and oats together, the end porridge tastes amazing! So much better than porridge with bananas on top!

  • Ganga108 on January 15, 2022

    P37 in my version of this book which is called simply Sydney Food. The banana is cooked in with the oats and topped with the butter glazed apple slices. It is a Winter favourite. To make it even more Australian, I use golden syrup instead of maple syrup, and top the apples with passionfruit and perhaps a little yoghurt.

• Iced cinnamon snail rolls

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p41. Really easy to make and they taste really good. I drizzled them with the icing as soon as they came out of the oven so it sank into the top very nicely - more of a glaze than a stiff icing. Also need milk, eggs and sugar (white, brown and icing).

• Honeycomb butter

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p18. For the honeycomb I simply sliced the chocolate sections off a crunchie bar. I then crushed the honeycomb and combined with the butter and honey. No need to use the food processor.

• Ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p18. Yum. Light and fluffy pancakes. Next time I need to remember to whisk the egg whites with an electric beater - doing it by hand is not fun first thing in the morning!

  • j_h on June 07, 2020

    Make sure you use a chocolate coated honeycomb candy bar. You can freeze the butter, and slice off small amounts as needed.

  • Hellyloves2cook on May 13, 2014

    These were quite nice, much prefer them with maple syrup though. The honeycomb butter didn't do it for me.

  • KarinaFrancis on June 07, 2020

    These were a nice Sunday brunch dish. I made the batter the night before and then cooked them up when we got back from our morning swim. I’d make them again but not bother with the honeycomb butter. 1/2 recipe makes 6 good sized hotcakes

  • ChelseaP on August 05, 2021

    So light and fluffy! My family has been making these for years.

• Sweetcorn fritters with roast tomato & bacon

  • Melanie on February 06, 2016

    Made the fritters only - tasty enough but I think I included too much batter.

  • pomona on December 31, 2018

    This is a great recipe. The technique of adding batter to the other fritter ingredients until they just hold together is a great one. I've made modified versions with different spices and different veg, also with diced ham. It's a versatile 'fridge contents' recipe.

• Potato and feta pancakes

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p45. Really good. I made these for dinner one night to serve with salad. Took a while to grate the potatoes but easy to prepare. Need flour, eggs, onion, lemons.

• Puy lentil soup with Parmesan toasts

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p74. Pretty impressive but low effort (takes about an hour to cook). Reheats really well so you could make this ahead.

  • jacbates on August 20, 2014

    Excellent soup - 8 minutes in the pressure cooker!

  • Melyinoz on February 03, 2022

    I made this as I had most of the ingredients and it was a really nice soup. I added zucchini and silverbeet, as I had some to use up. Did not make the Parmesan toasts. Would definitely make again.

  • Ganga108 on January 15, 2022

    Yummy!

• Parmesan toasts

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p74. Super easy. Need some garlic, oil, salt, pepper. Served with the lentil soup.

• Granny Mac's shortbread

  • Melanie on November 05, 2013

    p118. Very easy to make. These stay nice and soft. I used raspberry jam.

• Nectarine and plum tart

  • Melanie on February 06, 2016

    Made this with nectarines only, we thought it was delicious with ice cream.

• Coconut and passionfruit slice

  • nadiam1000 on August 16, 2020

    I love passion fruit and had a few cans of passion fruit pulp my daughter brought back from AU. This looked so appealing in the photo but from the start - the crust was an issue - way too soft added an extra half cup of flour. I used the full can of pulp so not to waste 2 oz and held back some coconut milk and cream. I used 2 lemons (small). Filling was very liquid so I added an extra egg. Baked beautifully, and once chilled the texture was perfect. The crust had a slight chew and the filling was set and creamy with crunch from coconut and PF seeds. Flavor was dull and muted - probably from all the cream and milk. I would prefer a passion fruit slice similar to a lemon bar - bright, tangy and tropical. Would not repeat.

• Vanilla-poached apricots

  • Hellyloves2cook on May 13, 2014

    Simple way to use those fresh sweet apricots we get here in New Zealand.

• Scrambled eggs

  • Hellyloves2cook on May 21, 2012

    Bills famous scrambled eggs are delicious - only way I make them now!

  • KarinaFrancis on October 27, 2013

    The definitive scrambled egg recipe! I've claimed them as my own I've made them so often

  • MmeFleiss on October 23, 2017

    Who knew plain scrambled eggs could be so sublime?

• Baked snapper with lemon-roasted potatoes and fennel chilli relish

  • Hellyloves2cook on May 21, 2012

    made this for the first time 11 years ago for friends while living in UK. I used sea bass however as there was no snapper available. A very light summery dish packed with flavour.

• Crumpets with blackberry butter

  • Yildiz100 on July 16, 2019

    No matter what I did, these were doughy. Its probably my fault, but will try a different recipe next time, just in case it was the recipe's fault. There were certain places in the recipe where I could have used more detail as a first time crumpet maker. For example, what texture should the batter have, and how long to cook on the second side. Also, bicarb in a recipe with no acid means they tasted slightly bitter too.

  • iamtabu on May 23, 2020

    I think the recipe needs slightly more water than called for to get the right consistency and level of air pockets in the crumpets.

  • Ganga108 on June 22, 2022

    I used Bill's recipe to try crumpets made with milk as the liquid (I've been trialling crumpet recipes). I also found them to be doughy, without the beautiful spongy-ness and air pockets of recipes. My crumpet experiments have highlighted that the preferred type of home made crumpet is a personal preference - mine is to have a wet dough consistency rather than thin batter, and to include a little baker's/bread flour in the mix.

• Goat's curd and lentil salad with roasted beetroot

  • mondraussie on May 14, 2017

    + dill

• Barbecued whole fish with fresh herb relish

  • mondraussie on July 26, 2020

    Works really well with fish basket. Did 6 mins each side, perhaps a bit less next time.

• Grilled beef with blackbean

  • e_ballad on August 16, 2020

    This was very salty, even with thorough rinsing of the salted black beans. I would consider reducing the amount of dark soy sauce. The marinated steak was also delicious without the sauce (having sampled a piece of my kids’ portion).

• Lemon-roasted potatoes

  • e_ballad on November 18, 2017

    There was only a hint of lemon, where I’d been hoping for a hit. Otherwise a good spud recipe.

• Poached salmon with green-bean salad, tomato and anchovy dressing

  • CarltonCaz on May 12, 2016

    Absolutely love this recipe. Simple to make, great for mid-week.

• Fresh Bircher muesli with stone fruit

  • Ganga108 on January 15, 2022

    An Australian twist on Bircher Muesli. We call it Bondi Bircher. Summer in a breakfast bowl.

• Spring vegetable soup

  • Ganga108 on January 08, 2021

    Yummy!

• Avocado toast with lime, pepper and coriander

  • Ganga108 on January 11, 2022

    A classic, made for years. Avo Toast was apparently first introduced to the world by Bill. Made this morning just to mark it off. But it is an institution in Australia and in this household.