This year a few things have happened to me in relation to food, resulting in some new experiments in the kitchen.

The first thing is that my palate appears to have suddenly matured, and I discovered that after 35 years of hating blue cheese, suddenly my tastebuds think it’s pretty much the best thing ever. Weird, but also delicious.

Secondly, my appreciation for red wine has suddenly soared, leaving me keen to try and taste lots of new and different red wines, in order to learn what I like (previously my only knowledge on the subject was that I liked Rioja, and all other red wines were a bit “meh”, But this is no longer the case! I also now have a fabulous book on wines which is helping me to learn and navigate the differences.

Thirdly, I am now reading “Neuroslimming” in an attempt to achieve my resolution to eat more healthily and better in a long-term sort of way, so have been searching for new recipes that are both healthy and delicious.

And you lucky people will reap the benefits of my research!

The first one is from my new Jamie Oliver app, and it’s called “Quick asian beef noodle soup” but is basically a sort of Vietnamese Pho. It’s delicious and light and fresh and healthy, as well as simultaneously being hearty and warming on a cold winter’s evening.

I’m a big fan. And it’s super quick to make, with almost no effort, AND in the process of making it, I stumbled across the way to cook a fillet steak to a perfect balance of pink on the inside and seared on the outside (6 minutes exactly on a high heat, turning every 2 minutes in case you were wondering, and then let it rest for a few minutes before you slice it up).

Sadly I’m not sure I can copy out the exact recipe here, but the app is £4.99 and totally worth it.

The second one is called a buddha bowl, as all the ingredients are essentially mixed up together – it’s warm, hearty, filling and VERY tasty. I could eat the satay sauce with a spoon all on it’s own.

There is a lovely video here, and if you scroll down you’ll see the full recipe below the video.

Here’s my version – I’ve been making it a LOT as it’s so delicious and does me for several meals at once which is always nice!

Next up is my new favourite weekend brunch, which I now make regularly, and which I am naming the Melbournian Brunch, as I discovered it in the Uber-hip world of Melbourne, where everyone has smashed avocado and feta and eggs for brunch apparently.

Even better, you can get the core ingredients for this magic brunch for £5 at Lidl, which will easily serve 4-6 people.

For the smashed avocado make sure you get a ripe one, and then chuck it in a bowl with some salt, pepper and lemon juice, and mash it with a fork.

Spread the smashed avocado onto your toast, and crumble some feta on top. Then top it with a poached egg and voila! Brunch a la Melbourne!

I also sometimes experiment by sprinkling some sun-dried tomatoes on top, or ripped up basil leaves and other such things, but it’s pretty good all by itself. All you need is a perfect cup of tea to go with it (I refuse to bow to the pressure of Melbourne hipsters and drink coffee however, because coffee is gross, and tea is amazing).