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ABC News
06-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- ABC News
Easy spiced lentil and tomato soup in 30 minutes
Get ready for cooler weather with this comforting, Lebanese-inspired lentil soup infused with warming spices and a rich tomato flavour. It's simple to make and comes together in under 30 minutes. This soup is hearty, nourishing and perfect for cosy nights in. The blend of spices adds warmth and depth, while red lentils give it a creamy, velvety texture without the need for cream. Serve it with a drizzle of melted butter infused with Aleppo pepper for extra indulgence and don't forget some crusty bread or warm pita on the side to scoop up every last bit. Simple ingredients combine to create this vegetarian soup that's ready in 30 minutes. ( ABC News: Lina Jebeile ) Sign up to the ABC Lifestyle newsletter Get a mid-week boost and receive easy recipes, wellbeing ideas, and home and garden tips in your inbox every Wednesday. You'll also receive a monthly newsletter of our best recipes. Your information is being handled in accordance with the Email address Subscribe Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 3–4 minutes until soft. Stir in the garlic and carrot and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the cumin, coriander, cinnamon and paprika. Stir well for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the lentils, crushed tomatoes and vegetable stock. Season with salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The soup is ready once lentils are soft and cooked. For a smoother texture, blend the soup using a stick blender. To serve: melt butter in a frypan over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once the butter begins to foam, remove the pan from heat and stir through the Aleppo pepper. Ladle hot soup into a bowl. Drizzle some of the Aleppo pepper butter over soup, squeeze a little fresh lemon juice and garnish with fresh parsley. Serve warm with crusty bread or pita.
ABC News
03-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- ABC News
A Bite To Eat With Alice: All-in veg frittata
John Pearce aka The Purple Wiggle joins Alice in the kitchen and John loves a no-fuss meal that's both hearty, and packed with flavour. So, Alice is making this all-in veg frittata — a perfect balance of comfort and practicality. A mix of colourful root vegetables and eggs set the foundation for a hearty and flavourful frittata. ( ABC TV: Wesley Mitton ) Using a mix of roasted root vegetables, fresh greens and soft herbs, this dish is a great way to use up what's on hand, while still delivering on taste. Roasting root vegetables enhances their natural sweetness and adds deep flavour to this hearty frittata. ( ABC TV: Wesley Mitton ) Whether served warm for brunch or enjoyed cold the next day, this frittata is a simple yet satisfying staple that's perfect for sharing. The key to a great frittata? A well-mixed egg base packed with vibrant roasted vegetables and fresh greens. ( ABC TV: Wesley Mitton ) Tips Keep the skins on: The skin of the potatoes holds a lot of flavour and texture, so no need to peel them. Great for fussy eaters: Frittata is an easy way to sneak in extra veggies, without them being too noticeable. Make it mini: Use muffin tins for individually portioned frittatas, perfect for meal prep or lunch boxes. Use what you have: This recipe is super versatile — swap in any veggies from the fridge or freezer. This recipe appears in A Bite to Eat with Alice, a new nightly cooking show and weeknights at 5pm on ABC TV. Sign up to the ABC Lifestyle newsletter Get a mid-week boost and receive easy recipes, wellbeing ideas, and home and garden tips in your inbox every Wednesday. You'll also receive a monthly newsletter of our best recipes. Your information is being handled in accordance with the Email address Subscribe Preheat the oven to 160°C fan=forced (180°C conventional). In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk, cheese (if using), mustard, salt and pepper. Whisk with a fork to mix everything thoroughly. Add the roasted vegetables, peas, snake beans, spinach and herbs to the bowl (save a little of the soft herb for garnish). Fold the ingredients into the egg mixture, using the fork. Heat a non-stick ovenproof pan (approximately 26cm) over a medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add the butter and let it melt and sizzle. Pour the frittata mixture into the pan, then jiggle the pan gently to distribute the contents evenly. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer it to the preheated oven for approximately 25—30 minutes, or until the middle of the frittata is just firm to the touch. Once set, remove the frittata from the oven and allow it to cool for about 10—20 minutes. Use a spatula to carefully remove the frittata from the pan and slice it into wedges or squares. Garnish with the reserved soft herbs, a sprinkle of salt flakes and a crack of pepper.
ABC News
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
A Bite To Eat With Alice: Nornie Bero's confit octopus with native chimichurri
Alice is joined in the kitchen by Nornie Bero, who shares a truly special dish — her confit octopus with native chimichurri. Known for celebrating fresh, local and native ingredients, Nornie showcases how simple yet deeply flavourful Australian bush foods can be. Fresh octopus should be firm, glossy, and have a slight ocean scent. ( ABC TV: Wesley Mitton ) Native greens in full glory — saltbush and warrigal greens bring a bold, earthy flavour to this vibrant chimichurri. ( ABC TV: Wesley Mitton ) This dish is a labour of love, slow-poaching octopus in aromatic olive oil with fennel, garlic and native spices to create a melt-in-your-mouth texture. It's then grilled to develop a smoky char, before being topped with a bright and zesty native chimichurri made with saltbush, warrigal greens, and pepperberries. Despite appearances, this dish is really as simple as whacking it in a tray, and popping it into the oven. ( ABC TV: Wesley Mitton ) A true showcase of native Australian flavours, this dish highlights the beauty of cooking with local ingredients, while delivering restaurant-quality results at home. The octopus shrinks as it slow-cooks, intensifying its flavour and creating melt-in-your-mouth tenderness. ( ABC TV: Wesley Mitton ) A bold, herb-packed native chimichurri, featuring Australian ingredients like saltbush and warrigal greens. ( ABC TV: Wesley Mitton ) Tips Wash the octopus thoroughly to remove any stickiness from the suckers. Save the leftover oil: Store it in an airtight container and use it as a seafood-infused oil for other dishes. Pepperberry is sometimes called mountain berry in supermarkets, so keep an eye out for both names. Seal the foil tightly over the dish to trap heat and ensure the octopus poaches evenly. Saltbush has a flavour similar to oregano , making it a great native herb to cook with. Gently mix the greens in the mortar instead of bruising them, to preserve their fresh flavour. The octopus can be confited the day before and left in the fridge overnight, making prep easier. This recipe appears in A Bite to Eat with Alice, a new nightly cooking show and weeknights at 5pm on ABC TV. Sign up to the ABC Lifestyle newsletter Get a mid-week boost and receive easy recipes, wellbeing ideas, and home and garden tips in your inbox every Wednesday. You'll also receive a monthly newsletter of our best recipes. Your information is being handled in accordance with the Email address Subscribe Preheat oven to 190°C fan-forced (200°C conventional). In a bowl, combine the octopus and salt, wash and rinse well. Place fennel tops, pepperberries, tarragon, garlic, shallots and chili in a baking tray. Top with octopus and cover with olive oil. Place baking paper on top and cover with foil. Place in the oven to poach for 1 hour. Once cooked, remove the octopus from oil and place into an ice bath to cool. Slice and grill on each side until golden brown. Meanwhile, prepare the warrigal and saltbush chimichurri. Combine the warrigal greens, saltbush, coriander and chili in a bowl. Add the olive oil, then the vinegar and oregano, and season with pepperberry and salt. To serve, top the grilled octopus with native chimichurri.
ABC News
02-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- ABC News
The herbs and vegetables that give me the most food in winter
As the weather starts to cool, growth in the veggie patch slows, but with a few strategic plant choices, I can maintain a steady supply of homegrown food throughout winter. I'm something of a lazy gardener, with only a city backyard to grow in. So, over the past few years, I've learnt to prioritise plants that are cheap to get started, compact and easy to grow, yet deliver a decent harvest that has multiple uses in the kitchen. Here are my top picks for edible plants that deliver the most value in wintertime. Cut-and-come-again leafy greens I've never bothered to grow iceberg lettuce — it sits around, inedible, for two months while maturing and then is harvested all at once and gone. Instead, I focus on quick-growing "cut and come again" lettuce — you pick leaves from the outside and leave the rest to keep growing, ensuring a gradual harvest over many weeks. And I plant lots of varieties, both to keep things interesting and tasty for myself and as a safeguard in case some fail. This is a practical application of the permaculture principle "use and value diversity", which helps build resilience in your garden. Spinach is a great cut-and-come-again winter leafy green. ( Supplied: Koren Helbig ) My favourite lettuce varieties include red and green salad bowl , oakleaf and heirloom Amish deer tongue , which can also be cooked like spinach. Mizuna, sorrel and rocket are great cut-and-come-again plants too. My winter garden also has an endless supply of leafy greens such as kale, spinach and rainbow chard , which go into everything from salads and sandwiches to curries, pies, omelettes and even my homemade veggie stock powder. Veggies that self-seed readily I like to guarantee myself future free plants by choosing varieties that self-seed prolifically, so it's easy to grow them again and again without needing to purchase more seeds. Sign up to the ABC Lifestyle newsletter Get a mid-week boost and receive easy recipes, wellbeing ideas, and home and garden tips in your inbox every Wednesday. You'll also receive a monthly newsletter of our best recipes. Your information is being handled in accordance with the Email address Subscribe Parsley, dill, borage, amaranth and mustard lettuce are fairly fool-proof self-seeders for beginner gardeners. It's as easy as allowing a couple of the best-looking plants to flower and set seed at the end of each season. You can collect the seeds and germinate them in pots for planting out. Or simply let them fall to the ground, which builds up the seed bank in your soil and allows plants to germinate when conditions are just right. This works especially well in winter, when regular rainfall kick-starts the germination process — suddenly you have free edible plants popping up everywhere. I don't overlook the prolific "weeds" that pop up during cooler months, either. Many are edible and highly nutritious, such as mallow, cleavers, chickweed, stinging nettle and plantain . Instead of killing them, I regularly pick and eat them in everything from salads and pesto to soups, curries and pies. I am well versed in Plants that yield prolifically Radishes are often lauded as just about the quickest-growing food plant, ready to pick and eat in as little as four weeks. I like them best when lacto-fermented with a little salt into a crunchy and tart (if a little stinky) probiotic condiment. But it's broad beans, peas and beans that are the real heroes in my winter garden when it comes to quantities of food — the latter two grown up trellises to save space. Photo shows Koren Helbig in her garden, with plenty of summer veggies growing in raised garden beds she filled using hügelkultur. After building four raised veggie beds in my backyard, I baulked at buying in loads of costly soil and compost to fill them. Instead, I opted for a thriftier route. They're easy to grow, super nutritious and every part of the plant is edible, including shoots, flowers and leaves — so I can nibble away at the edges while waiting for the main event. Picked regularly, peas will deliver a harvest for a good month or more. They're so much more delicious than the frozen ones you buy at the shops — most of mine get eaten straight off the plant and don't even make it to the kitchen. And a lazy gardener's tip for broad beans: I pick the pods while young, so I can eat the beans whole and sidestep the tedium of having to shell each one first. Veggies that store well Turnips and beetroots are my favourite winter root crops because they grow easily from seed and don't need much space, fertiliser or fuss. Once picked, they store well for weeks in a lidded container in the fridge and are versatile to cook with — delicious roasted, steamed, or grated fresh into a salad. Pickled beets are extra tasty. Beetroot grows well from seed and doesn't need much space. ( Supplied: Koren Helbig ) I also use winter's chilly soil temperatures to effectively store plants in my garden. For example, I like to plant a couple dozen leeks by mid-autumn, so they have time to establish before soil temperatures plummet. In the deep of winter, growth slows almost to a standstill and my leeks will essentially sit in the cold soil and wait, allowing me to harvest one-by-one over many weeks. With these strategies under my belt, I'm easily able to supplement my diet with something homegrown most days of the week — helping save on my fresh food bill too. Koren Helbig is a sustainable city living educator who practices permaculture and grows organic food in the backyard of her small urban Tarntanya (Adelaide) home.
ABC News
29-04-2025
- ABC News
Why you should consider using AI if you've been avoiding it
If you've been avoiding generative artificial intelligence (AI) you're "missing the next industrial revolution". That's according to Nici Sweaney, CEO of AI consultancy business AI Her Way. Nici Sweaney says AI tools will redefine how we work, live and interact. ( Supplied: Nici Sweaney ) Dr Sweaney, who lives on Yuin Country on the New South Wales South Coast, says using AI systems comes with a competitive advantage. "We think that if you use it daily in work, you get about a 40 per cent increase in productivity and efficiency," she says. "If you work a full-time job, that's two extra days of work a week." She says ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude and Gemini, which are known as large language models, are among the most popular tools There's a divide in who is using these tools, with men more likely to be using them than women and "about twice as likely to be using [generative AI] in a workplace setting". Sign up to the ABC Lifestyle newsletter Get a mid-week boost and receive easy recipes, wellbeing ideas, and home and garden tips in your inbox every Wednesday. You'll also receive a monthly newsletter of our best recipes. Your information is being handled in accordance with the Email address Subscribe Sandra Peter is an associate professor at the University of Sydney Business School and co-director of the school's Sydney Executive Plus, which focuses on upskilling emerging leaders. She thinks of large language models "as having a personal assistant" who is knowledgeable, eager to help, polite, but "sometimes does make mistakes". How to get started Dr Sweaney recommends people begin by using AI tools in low-stakes ways in their personal lives. If you're keen to experiment with it at work, low-risk tasks are the best place to start, she says. Experts tips on how to start using AI tools: Start with simple and low-stakes personal tasks Identify tasks you can explain easily to others and don't enjoy Try using different free systems and find one you prefer When deciding the tasks that could be delegated to AI in your life, Dr Sweaney suggests making a list of the tasks you do often, which could include responding to emails, prioritising your workload, or writing the grocery list. If you could explain the task to someone, highlight it. Give it gold star if you don't enjoy doing it. Dr Sweaney says these tasks are "prime territory" for delegating to generative AI. Dr Peter says if she were a beginner, she would divide her daily tasks into categories "and think about how [AI tools] can help me in those different areas". Planning and preparation tasks are often good candidates. She suggests people try out different tools to see what works best for them. "I want to encourage [people] to experiment in very simple, straightforward ways." For example, you could start by asking a system to proofread some text. How do you use AI tools to make your everyday life easier? Email everyday@ Dr Sweaney doesn't advise paying for an AI tool. Most large language models have free versions and most people "won't be able to tell the difference". "It's just about finding one that you enjoy using and then learning to use that well." When not to use AI tools Dr Sweaney says some people make the mistake of directing these tools as if they are using a search engine. "It's much more like having an employee or an intern," she says. You're likely to get better results if you show the tool an example, and describe what you do and don't like. Zena Assaad says there are risks involved when using AI programs and tools. ( Supplied: Zena Assaad ) Dr Peter says these tools don't excel at maths and recommends you use a calculator instead. "Don't use it as an accuracy machine," she also warns. These tools are better at summarising or critiquing content you offer up, she says. Zena Assaad, is a senior lecturer at the Australian National University's School of engineering on Ngunnawal Country, in Canberra, whose research interests include the safety of AI systems. She encourages caution when using these tools, especially in work settings or when sensitive information is involved. Dr Assaad says while these tools and systems can be very helpful, a lot of people are using them when they shouldn't be. "I do think that we're seeing a loss of critical thinking skills by using these tools,: she says. "It's your conscious choice whether or not you use it, and how you use it." What about the information I input? Dr Assaad says that when we engage with these systems, our personal information is being used to improve them, and these systems can then be used in ways we might not be comfortable with, such as in You can usually opt out of your data being used to train the AI model, Dr Assad says, but it is often "hard to find" out how to do so, with many users "opting in" by default. Dr Peter encourages people to consider and be "very mindful" of what you're submitting, particularly if any information is confidential, or not your own work or data. Dr Sweaney says: "If you want to be really safe, turn data sharing off, and if you wouldn't put it on a public forum maybe think twice about whether you want to use AI." Other ethical considerations Dr Peter says there are myriad of ethical considerations that come with these tools and systems. While you may use it to check spelling or for feedback, "you don't want to pass off AI work as your own". Also, if you're using these tools to recreate work in the style of an author or artist, they are "not being renumerated", despite some of these systems
