Paul Hayes
banner
aforkandapencil.bsky.social
Paul Hayes
@aforkandapencil.bsky.social
31 followers 3 following 45 posts
I cook and write at aforkandapencil.com
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Cheeky little Thai yellow fish curry to kickstart the weekend.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
🍤 Prawn toasts turned into balls – same ingredients, rolled in panko.

For dipping, Kewpie mayo mixed with ponzu, a drop of sesame oil and a little Sriracha for heat.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Burnt spring onion oil with hokkien noodles.

A bit of soy sauce and black vinegar are supporting players here, but the star is the oil, flavoured with spring onions cooked until the thinnest parts are dark and crisp.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Sunday night taverna special, yiouvetsi, slow-cooked lamb with orzo, feta and oregano, and sneaky heat courtesy a few tiny dried Calabrian chillies.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Duck legs with blood oranges for a winter Sunday night.

First blood oranges of their maddeningly short season. Duck salt-cured with aromatics (thyme, coriander seeds, garlic, ginger) for a few hours for crispness and flavour. Pan sauce with orange juice and some chicken stock.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Prawn laksa for lunch

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Having a real nonna moment on a cold night

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Corn and cheddar polenta muffins, made to go with a warming Catalan beef stew, estofado.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Leftovers transformed: a bit of risotto, some bolognese sauce ... Friday night arancini with roasted garlic aioli. Cocktail of choice, at the start of a three-day weekend: Campari and prosecco.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Chicken and chickpea cassoulet, a cornerstones of my winter rotation. A nod to a French classic made with haricot beans, pork rinds and goose, which I've dragged into the 21st century with chickpeas, pancetta and chicken.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Beef shank osso buco with chilli gremolata and soft polenta.

It takes two hours of patient simmering and basting to cosset this dish into melting perfection using nothing more than a shallot, some wine and beef stock. Worth every second.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Brunch goals: all the flavours of bagels and lox in tart form – smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, tomatoes, red onion, dill.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
A bit of leftover roast chicken upcycled and transformed, with curry powder, dry sherry, sour cream and coriander, into a glorious Italy-meets-India sauce for rigatoni that comes together while the pasta cooks.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Frangipane bars, a bit of rainy day baking.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Korean spicy braised chicken, dakbokkeumtang.

Gochujang (red pepper paste) and gochugaru (red pepper flakes) are the main players, bringing vibrant colour, mild heat, slight sweetness and deep, smoky savouriness.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Catalan-style fisherman's stew with saffron and potatoes. I'm sure actual Catalan fishermen are getting Glovo deliveries to their boats these days, but a boy can dream.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Bigoli in salsa, a bit of Venetian magic. I make it with spelt spaghetti, 2 shallots (shaved straight into the pan with a mandoline), 4 anchovies, and parsley. The secret: giving the shallots a full 20 minutes to soften, and using pasta water to create the silky, clingy sauce.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Atoning for my weekend sins with a soulful bowlful of coconut lentils, gently spiced (turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, garlic, ginger and a few chilli flakes) with every last baby spinach leaf in the fridge drawer, some toasted cashews for crunch and a spritz of lime. Naan, couch, Hitchcock's Suspicion.
I made Jean-Georges Vongerichten's chocolate cake – not the famous lava cake, the one from his home-cooking book – for dessert because it only needs 17 minutes in the oven, making it perfect to serve warm.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
The extra blanket is down so I'm calling it: autumn has arrived – at last – in Melbourne. To mark the moment, my favourite brick-red one-potter, chicken paprikash, made with a scandalous amount of paprika and served with its customary sour cream on the side.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Salmon, sorted. I make a brushable paste from cumin, coriander, sweet paprika, chilli flakes, garlic and lemon juice, then paint the fish and roast in a hot oven for 8 minutes. When it comes out, I carpet it in finely chopped parsley.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
A bit of midnight madness: my small batch brownies.

I can make these from muscle memory these days and I do, more often than I should probably admit.

🍽️🍜 #food #foodsky
Pour over enough extra virgin olive oil to cover. Put the lid on and shake gently to mix. Leave to marinate at room temperature for 6 hours; after that they'll keep in the fridge for a month.
Rinse the olives well under cold running water and drain until quite dry. Place them in a large jar with 2 cloves garlic (peeled and squashed), 2 teaspoons dried red chilli flakes, 2 teaspoons fennel seeds and the zest of half an orange in thin strips.