--- Need more dinner inspiration? Binge all 200 episodes of The Cook Up with Adam Liaw free and any time on SBS On Demand. ---
What a rush The Cook Up with Adam Liaw has been. Almost as big a rush as a family trying to put dinner on the table every night.
Thanks to Adam and his entertaining guests, things are now much calmer in kitchens across Australia. What's for dinner tonight? A quick skim through The Cook Up recipes and that question is finally solved. Not just what to serve for the main meal, but how to win favours by dishing up dessert, too.
Here are 101 meals that are sure to please your gang. Night after night after night.
Nail the main
1. Umami bolognese
This is fusion-cooking done so right it's practically nuclear. Its Japanese and Italian flavours are given a Vegemite bomb to make your family's new favourite dinner.
2. Oven-baked chicken thighs
Every home cook needs a decent one-pan, oven-baked dish they can pull together fast and then just whack into the oven while life goes on. This is that magical dish.
3. Beef and snow peas
There's something about snow peas that are irresistible. Kids who run a mile from any other vegetable will happily dive into a bowlful of this beef and snow pea stir-fry.
4. Schnitzel with kale slaw and oven chips
7. Udon with miso and Asian vegetables
Nourishing, nutritious, full of goodness. An udon bowl is exactly what you need at the end of a long day.
8. Atkilt alicha
For a fresh take on an age-old family dinner, give this super-tasty Ethiopian vego stew a whirl one night.
9. Whole-spiced roasted pumpkin
Slow-roasted pumpkin makes such a delightful dinner. Colin Fassnidge packs in the spices and tops the whole thing off with a tangy buttermilk curd.
12. Pan-seared white fish with sautéed kale
'Fish and vege' make the ideal weeknight dinner. Fast to make and fresh to eat.
13. Corn pakoras with chaat masala
Chaat is India’s favourite genre of snacking street food for a reason. This version has a long ingredients list, but is as quick to make as you'd expect from a street favourite.
14. Jacket potato party
Put the fun back into dinner.
15. Mee goreng with spicy eggs
For maximum enjoyment, dinner should be a 'street food favourite'. They're the kind of dishes that are so tasty they make every meal an exclamation.
18. Quinoa poke bowl
Bowl food is basically our favourite way to eat. Even when it's this healthy.
19. All-veg tomato sauce pasta
This tomato sauce that contains onion, carrots, capsicum, celery, zucchinis, garlic, basil and, of course, tomatoes. Colin Fassnidge has kids. He gets it.
22. Sausage and brown rice minestrone
Adam turns the already comforting minestrone into something yet more hearty with minced Italian sausage and rice.
23. KL hokkein mee
The answer to 'should we have noodles for dinner?' is always, 'yes please!'.
26. Chicken pot pie
The other correct answer to 'what should we have for dinner?' is 'pie'.
27. TV spaghetti
Naming this dish 'TV spaghetti' does not do it justice. It's actually a one-pot wonder that melts together anchovies, parsley and chilli to conquer the summit of your pasta mountain.
30. Ten-minute cheeseburgers
Another zippy favourite, zhushed by Adam to be more than the sum of its parts. Is it the brioche burger bun? The Japanese mayo? Or the carefully placed dill pickle? All of the above.
33. Easy butter chicken
'Easy butter chicken' sounds less like a recipe title and more like a chorus of family dinner bells echoing across the suburbs.
34. 'Shepherd's pie' with sweet potato mash
When it works this well, there's nothing quite like the re-invention of an old favourite.
35. Vegetable confit risotto
Meatless Monday never looked so good.
This creamy, herb-laden risotto is finished with a sweet-and sour-Italian condiment called agrodolce, which could be your new pantry essential. The sour (agro) comes from vinegar and the sweet (dolce) from sugar or honey, and is sometimes also flavoured with herbs, spices and fruit.
38. Stuffed baby eggplants
Sheikh el mehshi brings Middle Eastern comfort food to your weeknight menu.
39. Lizzy Hoo's silken tofu dinner
This was 'the favourite' in Lizzy's share house back in the day. They'd eat it three or four times a week, but cooking it tonight for dinner would be a great start.
40. Easy parmesan chicken with herb salad
Another 'crumbed-delight', but with a cheesy twist. One for the low-carb schnitty lovers.
41. Hokkaido salmon chanchan
The combination of buttery vegetables, tender salmon and savoury miso is perfect for any dinner.
44. Steak Diane
Throw it back to the sixties with this retro steak Diane dinner. Follow it up with a bomb Alaska dessert is you truly want to set the nostalgia on fire.
45. Pork belly one-tray roast
Dishwashing fact: any dish with the world 'one-tray' in it's title is instantly 50 per cent better than any other dish.
48. Chase's sukiyaki
Chase Kojima served up this hearty Japanese hot pot and we all dived in, mouth-first.
49. Roast tomato soup with rosemary cheesy flatbreads
Homemade soup meets homemade bread. #wholesome
52. Hainanese pork chops with onion gravy
Emphatically not your run-of-the-mill pork chop dinner thanks to an 'enchanting' Chinese-inspired gravy.
53. Red wine and rosemary teriyaki roast lamb
A simple roast lamb takes a spin through Japan, turning red wine and rosemary into a rich teriyaki glaze.
56. Kid-friendly dhal
Because feeding your kids a bowl of lentils for dinner is the pinnacle of smug parent achievement.
57. Fried tofu with spring onion
An easy one-pan (there's that magical phrase again!) vegetarian dinner that will take 15 minutes to get on the table.
58. Whole baby snapper with chorizo
A massive amount of flavour from chorizo, tomato and capsicum somehow manages to balance the delicate fish, not overpower it.
61. Lemon chicken
The restaurant family favourite comes home.
62. Lamb mince ali nazik
You simply can't go wrong with one of the most popular dishes in Turkey.
63. Avocado green goddess
Bring on the salads for dinner. Throw everything you've got in there for maximum flavour and nutrition.
66. Baked heirloom tomatoes
When tomatoes are in season, there is simply no finer dinner.
67. Trofie al pesto
Pesto pasta has long been the go-to last-minute dinner of many a family. Now it's time to ditch the jar.
68. Beef and broccolini with oyster sauce
This looks exactly like a dinner most families would devour in seconds. Fortunately, it's prepared in much the same amount of time.
71. Peanut butter curry
Step aside butter chicken, there's a new kid favourite in town.
72. Foul mudammas
Perhaps some of the appeal of this Middle Eastern favourite is lost in translation, but don't let the name stop you. It's a tasty-as vegan classic that's healthy to boot.
73. Frying pan kabab khashkhash
Skip the barbecue and fry your kabab in the pan on the stove. Those moreish Middle Eastern flavours are all there and some.
74. Chicken and mushroom doria
Doria is an Italian-inspired dish that originated in France, but now only seems to exist in Japan where it is phenomenally popular.
75. American hot wings with ranch dressing
Chicken wings may be cheap and cheerful, but when they're spiced just right they're also spectacular.
Dish these desserts
78. Tofu doughnuts
Dessert-inject some protein with Adam's crunchy tofu doughnuts. They take a tiny 15 minutes from whoa to go.
79. Four-ingredient flan
Adam nails a dessert that's both crowd and cook pleaser. Five minutes of prep for an evening of 'you're the best cook ever's.
80. Crispy banana split
A banana split is always a good idea, particularly when the banana is deep-fried to crispy perfection. Do try this one at home.
81. Hot chocolate tart
A silky tart filled with a blend of chocolate, Tim Tams and mini marshmallows is always going to make the list.
84. Cherry clafoutis
It's French, so it has to be complicated and fiddly, right? Wrong! But it does have to be luxurious and special and a cherry clafoutis is all that and more.
85. Vietnamese coffee tiramisu
We bow.
86. Super vanilla ice-cream
Sometimes it just isn't about convenience.
87. Sticky banana and white chocolate puddings
A good pudding is everything we love about dessert. Sweet, comforting and endlessly satisfying.
Panettone, with its fruit and rich dough, is simply asking to be made into a pudding. It soaks up the rum, marsala, cream and cinnamon for a really indulgent dessert.
Originating in Quebec in The Great Depression, this economical pudding was once made just with sugar, water and flour. Modern versions have moved away from the cheap and cheerful beginnings and are now made with huge amounts of cream and maple syrup. This version goes a little way back to its origins, but still uses a bit of butter and milk to help it along.
90. Emergency apple crumble
If you've never needed an emergency pudding, you're doing everything right. Make this one anyway.
91. Whipped ricotta with charred peaches
A fruity dessert ends the meal just right. In this one, Adam adds a pickled shallot twist to keep us on our toes.
94. Toasted marshmallows
This is the kind of sweet that would really keep the jacket potato party going (see above).
95. Vegan black sesame and coconut ice-cream
A quick four-step, no-churn ice-coconut cream that will be on high-rotation in no time at all.
96. Vegan snickers
This is exactly how you want to finish dinner, right?
97. Strawberry, white chocolate and crème fraiche galette
The French love a good pastry dessert, and dishes like Phoebe Wood's strawberry galette are why.
The classic American strawberry shortcake is closer to what we would call a scone than a cake. In Japan it’s made with a soft and pillowy sponge that is quite unrecognisable from the rustic country kitchen American version. Whichever your preference, it’s not a bad idea to start with the original. For one, it’s a much easier cake to make.
100. Loukoumades with honey and cinnamon
Once you get the hang of them, delicious loukoumades are a breeze to make. Just ask any yiayia.
101. Biscotti
We'll let biscotti have the last word here. Because biscuits really are the best way to end both meals and mammoth favourites lists.
No, not teriyaki chicken. This combines Portuguese peri-peri with Japanese teriyaki for a fusion that makes a surprising amount of sense.
When I lived in London, Polpo was one of my favourite restaurants. It served Venetian food that was the opposite to the tourist trap slop that Venice is usually famous for. ... I stole this recipe from their book, Polpo, because it reminds me of a time living overseas and being able to travel.
Adam makes his chilli honey baked chicken - a simple weeknight dinner with a classic sweet and heat flavour combination.
This pizza style originated in Long Island, New York, reminiscent of the style of pizzas made by Italian grandma's who didn't have access to a pizza oven. It's most similar to the Sicilian style of pizza made with a thick base.
This is inspired by beef kalbi, a marinated aromatic beef rib dish grilled on charcoals. I use elements of the kalbi marinade to which I add some Korean chili powder and paste to and applied it to the lamb ribs.
Confession: my freezer is chockas with frozen bananas I never got around to eating before they went almost-black. But since they only keep for three months, that only means one thing - banana bread!
I learned this from my dear friend Phillip who calls it ‘chicken all in.’ You can add whatever aromats you have in the fridge, but bay leaves and thyme go particularly well.
'Manchurian' is a sub-cuisine of Indian food that brings local flavours to Chinese styles of cooking. Gobi (cauliflower) florets are deep-fried then wok-tossed in a spicy sauce.
