Chicken Tagine with Roasted Vegetable Couscous
A no-fuss, oven-based tagine: chicken marinated in ras el hanout and preserved lemon, served over couscous with orange-roasted carrots, chickpeas and dates. Marinate ahead and it comes together easily.
Love is in the Air
Dishes to Impress, Seduce, and Spoil Your Boo
When I was single, I absolutely employed cooking in my dating arsenal. Food was my love language and, frankly, my best flirting strategy. A well-cooked meal said “stick around, there’s more where that came from” far better than any dating app ever could.
These days, I cook for loved ones with less pressure but just as much pleasure. I’ll admit that occasionally the performance element is still there. I love a dish that makes someone’s eyes widen across the table but these days it’s less about auditioning for the role of perfect partner and more about celebrating the people I adore.
For me, love-filled cooking starts with sourcing the best ingredients I can find. I’ll happily spend a Saturday morning weaving through the market, chatting with the traders I trust.
Duck, for instance, I like to buy from one particular store. I know the birds have been ethically raised, the plump breasts are excellent value, and I can count on them being full of flavour. (The tenderloin tucked underneath? That usually gets diced up and fed to one very pampered cat. Hey, everyone deserves a little spoiling.)
The recipes I cook for my boo are about striking that balance between effort and ease. Some are grand gestures—the sort of dish that takes hours, fills the house with intoxicating smells, and makes you look like an absolute catch.
Others are more of a coy shrug, the “oh, this old thing? I just whipped it up” kind of meal that somehow manages to taste like romance without showing the work.
Cooking for love doesn’t always have to be subtle. Sometimes it’s seductive and showy, with glistening sauces and a glass (or three) of wine. Other times it’s playful, a bit cheeky, a plate of something eaten with fingers instead of cutlery.
So whether you’re out to dazzle, to spoil, or to lure someone closer across the table, these recipes are here to help. Because love may be in the air, but it tastes even better on the plate.
These are the kind of things I like to cook for my Valentine:
The Melbourne I Like to Eat
There are plenty of cities with good food and, while I might be a little biased, I think Melbourne has something a little more interesting: a food culture that feels like the city itself. Diverse, curious, somewhat scruffy around the edges and dotted with just enough genuinely passionate producers.
What a School Canteen Taught Me About Building a Village
People often say they want a village, but they’re not always ready to become an active participant in one. Being part of a community requires actually walking the walk.