5 Minute Food Fix

521 episodes into this podcast and Simon Davis finally unveils his deep and passionate obsession with Puy Lentils.

In the following episode, you'll start by making a sofritto with onion, carrot and celery, fried down carefully for about 20 minutes. A small bag of unsoaked puy lentils will then go in and be plumped out with water and cook time. Add in a stock cube and some lemon.

THIS IS YOUR BASE.

Then to it you can add all kinds of inspiration:

More lemon juice

Crumbled fetta

Yumi is excited to be talking about crepes even though there are some ethical issues...which you shall hear about if you listen to today's episode!

IDIOT-PROOF CREPES

1 cup of plain flour

1 cup of milk

1/2 cup water

4 eggs

4tbs melted butter

1-2tbs caster sugar

pinch salt

3tbs milk powder

1tsp vanilla (optional)

Blend everything together then rest the mixture overnight in the fridge.

When you're ready...

Pour a quarter cup...

Yumi finds many people she loves are in caring roles and need to be cared for themselves. So get ready, because this is all about a BIG DEAL chicken soup recipe that - yes - takes two whole days to complete.

This recipe is available in our cookbook The Food Fix.

DAY 1: Make the Stock

Roast up 3kg of chicken wings in a hot oven, seasoned with salt and pepper, until deeply golden. If you have some old onions or old fennel, chuck those in the oven with the chicken. The cooking...

Both your hosts Yumi Stynes and Simon Davis have struggled to get their kids to be adventurous in their eating and cooking. This is a pretty normal stage in kid development (but gee, it can be a drainer!) and it looks like Simon's first-born is starting to grow out of it.

Her exploration of cookbooks in the home reminded Simon of a much-loved but completely forgotten recipe from Jamie Oliver's "Happy Days with the Naked Chef" days.

MARINATED MOZZARELLA with LEMON and MARJORAM

TAKE FOUR BUFFALO MOZZARELLA BALLS and slice them to 1...

What to do when you're having people over - want to feed them delicious food but don't want to be tethered to the stove all night?

This applies to Yumi's conundrum (what kind of menu suits a board meeting at her place?) but is a great template for Christmas too!

Simon suggests this recipe from Ottolenghi, as well as prawns, maybe some crackers, and Yumi's famous carrot cake to wrap things up.

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Yumi debriefs about meeting one of her cooking heroes (off-air Simon asked, "Was it a case of 'Never meet your heroes?' and Yumi said, "THE OPPOSITE!") and they share how to make Fatteh and a truly essential yoghurt tahini sauce which is delicious on MANY things but particularly on crisped-up leftover bread that is soaking up the juices of a perfect summer tomato.

Couple of things: Sami has a substack

Find out more about his newest book here

AND Yumi's latest book 'Welcome to Friendship' is nominated for a Book of...

Simon has just worked on and published an amazing book called 'Around the World in 80 Meatballs' by Bunny Banyai that gives an extraordinary insight into how the meatball exists in cultures all around the world.

Yumi is skeptical about Japanese meatballs but Simon has an incredible German recipe that delivers with a Spinach Sauce that he is going to talk about today.

CREAMY SPINACH SAUCE

Boil a whole bunch of washed English spinach in salted water for 4-5mins. Drain well, reserving a half-cup of the liquid.

Turn 2tbs...

On your favourite food podcast, Yumi and Simon talk about how to make a salad MORE intriguing.

Plus, Yumi needs to confess about the stressful experience of acting!

Find the amazing Recipe Tin Eats salad here.

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Simon is getting ready to shoot his episodes of Adam Liaw's show The Cook-Up (broadcast date TBC) and Yumi is psyched about this recipe that you can get on the table in just 13 Minutes - that was shared in one of her group chats:

It's Marion Grasby's microwaved EGGPLANT RECIPE and is frankly ...amazing! You need to try it to believe it but since recording this ep Yumi has made it 3 more times and it's a keeper, a winner, and a crowd-pleaser.

(Sometimes I top it with finely sliced matchsticks of cucumber, fresh...

SIMON IS BACK!!

Yumi is delighted to be joined by the steadfast cooking legend and cookbook editor Simon Davis again.

Woot!

They unpack the uses of raising agents like bicarb soda and baking powder in cakes, and whether self-raising flour has a place in our kitchens.

Yumi is also pretty psyched to try this recipe.

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If you follow Reece Hignell's instagram, you might've seen that he hosted an idyllic week of cooking in a French chateau.

Naturally, Yumi has questions!

For Reece's LEMON TART recipe, check out his cookbook here.

And don't forget, Yumi's event with legendary Palestinian-British food writer Sami Tamimi is this weekend in Sydney!

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Cakeboi's Reece Hignell is a jam-making expert!

Filling in for Simon Davis again, Reece is the guy who made his Nan's cake recipes on Masterchef (including her Pumpkin Scones!).

On today's episode, he shares his tips for making jam delicious, vibrant and set. SET!

Don't forget: Yumi is interviewing Sami Tamimi this Sunday in Sydney if you wanna come along!

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Cakeboi legend Reece Hignell is guest host again and one thing he KNOWS how to do is scone.

Yumi has her mind blown several time this episode AND - your hosts solve the age-old dilemma of WHEN and HOW to add jam and cream to your scones!

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Cakeboi's Reece Hignell (instagram here) is SUPREMELY lucky to travel as a foodie and recently he went through Europe in search of the ultimate CARDAMOM bun.

One of his chefs came up with a brilliant hack if, like Reece (and Yumi, and Simon), you're absolutely bonkers for a bit of cardamom in your sweet goods and your chai. YUM YUM! You'll hear all about it in today's episode.

PS. If you happen to be going to Copenhagen any time soon, absolutely make an effort to go to Juno The Bakery in Østerbro.

Reece Hignell is known for his legendary sweets. During his time on Masterchef he famously drew inspiration from beautiful, handwritten recipes from his Nan. He talks about her Caramel Slice on this episode, and how it can help a starting chef learn some basics that they can then apply to more advanced baking.

Find Reece's cookbook here.

(And don't forget Yumi will be interviewing Palestinian chef and food writer Sami Tamimi at the Sydney Opera House when he visits Australia in October.)

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Master baker and Newcastle royalty, Reece Hignell is guest host for the next few episodes!

He came to national attention as a Masterchef contestant and now has a world-renowned bakery in Newcastle called Cakeboi, and is the author of my son's favourite cookbook!

But one of the things that made him famous was his ability to make brilliant, complex and nourishing curries.

In this episode we talk about finishing a curry with a few flourishes that can elevate even something you made with paste from a tin, jar or a...

Ingredients (to make 2 big Okonomiyaki)

250 grams of dried yaki noodles or ramen noodles

One cup of green cabbage, finally shredded

2 green onions, finely chopped

One cup of snow peas washed and trimmed

6 thin slices of bacon 170 grams)

2 eggs

1 heaped tablespoon of potato or cornstarch

2/3 of a cup 80 grams of flour

1/3 of a cup plus one tablespoon of dashi broth or chicken stock

PLUS

Sunflower oil for cooking, Okonomiyaki sauce (yakisoba sauce also works) and Kewpie Mayo for...

Yumi and Chrissie were both there when politician Julie Bishop came on their show The Circle to talk her creamy herby chicken. It was years ago but the memory is VIVID for both of them! To the point where they both remember the recipe!

Chrissie will also talk you through the 101 of the PERFECT BURGER.

JULIE BISHOP'S CHICKEN

Ingredients

...

As we go to air, SPRING has just sprung, but that doesn't mean it's too soon to be thinking about and planning for Christmas!

Chrissie has some great ideas about how to stress less, enlist the uncles, keep seafood front and centre, and make the perfect, crunchy roasted potato.

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Chrissie Swan guest-hosts again on this episode that gets your head into the Christmas spirit! And no, it's not too early to be thinking about it! (IYKYK)

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Chrissie Swan joins Yumi again to discuss what contingency plans should be made to INDEMNIFY A SISTER against running out of dessert...!

APPLE CRUMBLE:

2 cups of plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup brown sugar

250g butter

Mix all the above in a food processor until just barely combined.

Tumble on top of a baking dish with 4-5 cups of stewed apple down the bottom.

Bake at 160C fan-forced for 45 mins.

Serve with vanilla ice-cream.

FOR TICKETS to...

Chrissie Swan and your food fix host Yumi Stynes used to eat a lot of weekend lunches together when they lived in the same city.

Back then it was crunchy, chewy bread, butter and maybe a burrata.

But that was 15 years ago. What now?

MAYBE, it's a foccacia.

There's a great Karen Martini recipe here - ignore all the toppings and just use the foccacia basic as a template - it's excellent and you don't need to "rice" the cooked potato. Mashing it with a fork will...

Chrissie Swan is guest co-host again and she is absolutely FLUENT in Bolognese.

Here are the hacks, by Chrissie:

As I mentioned - with bolognaise every single batch is different.

Here’s my base:

2 onions

8 cloves of garlic

2 carrots, peeled and quartered

3 celery stalks, quartered

1kg coarsely minced chuck steak from the butcher

1 heaped teaspoon of flaked sea salt

3 chicken stock cubes

500g tomato paste

2 x 800g tins of tomatoes

thyme

...

Yumi is delighted to be joined by her old The Circle co-host, Chrissie Swan.

Chrissie is a Logie Award-winning TV presenter and host of The Chrissie Swan show on NOVA, mum of 3, fantastic cook, and all-round legend!

The two catch up and talk through the two internet food fads Chrissie has tried and loved.

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Simon has been booked to be a guest on a cooking show, shooting soon.

So... what to cook?

It can be agony to decide, but Simon's first impulse is to make his famous and delicious FISH FINGER SANDWICH.

The legendary sando is easy AND supremely yummy, so is there a problem?

POSSIBLY! Warning! This episode contains contagious LoLs! Stay til the end!

FISH FINGER SANDWICH - serves 2

Pre-heat the oven to 220C

Spread out 10 fish fingers on a baking tray and cook...

Yumi and Simon ask some age old questions about why some cooks are hectic and they come up with some theories...

A chef who is completely NOT hectic but calm and delightful is Marion Grasby and Yumi has been fun cooking a few recipes from her website, including today's Chicken Lemon and Orzo, that you can whip up in a LEGIT 30 mins.

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There's no convincing Yumi that garlic deserves to be eaten.

HOWEVER, she does have memories of loving garlic bread and that is because it is, in fact, Very Yummy (if you are not a vampire or FODMAP).

Simon's ULTIMATE Garlic Bread:

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Get a good-looking baguette and slice it but not all the way to the bottom, leaving the base intact.

100g softened butter and 4-5 garlic cloves grated on the side of a box grater

Wrap the baguette in al foil.<...

COME TO YUMI'S 'WELCOME TO FRIENDSHIP' book launch!

Saturday 8 August, 2026. 2pm at Gleebooks in Sydney.

On today's episode, Simon is excited and psyched about a book called 'SMOKE, RICE, WATER' by Kishwar Chowdhury.

From it, he's recommending as a starter dish, the Pumpkin with Nigella Seeds.

METHOD:

Prepare 500g butternut pumpkin by peeling and cutting into cubes

heat 3tbs oil over a medium heat

then add in 1tsp Nigella Seeds until they crackle

add in a diced onion and 2 finely...

Why do some recipes fall out of rotation?

And how good is it when they come back, like a beloved friend?

OTTOLENGHI'S PRAWN, ORZO and MARINATED FETTA recipe can be found here.

(Yumi leaves out the garlic and uses a whole 500g bag of frozen prawns, defrosted in a sieve over a bowl overnight in the fridge, and it's perfectly great.)

The whole cookbook SIMPLE by OTTOLENGHI can be found everywhere, including here.

Fill out our listener survey here, gracias.

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Yumi is deep in book promo at the moment - with WELCOME TO FRIENDSHIP - the long-awaited fifth book in the 'Welcome to' series, due for wide release July 28, 2026. (FYI you can pre-order and get yourself a set of free badges by uploading your receipt to this website. Not to hustle but you need to do it TODAY! because eligibility expires 27/07/2026)

Also, it wouldn't suck if you could please fill out this survey! Won't take long and helps us make better shows.

TURMERIC CAULIFLOWER

Pre-heat the oven to a nice and...

Packet gnocchi, but make it useful

A message from Simon:

Today’s fix is packet gnocchi. And I want you to not boil it.

I know the packet tells you to boil it. Ignore the packet. The packet does not know your life.

The best thing to do with shelf-stable gnocchi is roast it.

Straight onto a tray. Olive oil. Tomatoes. Garlic. Lemon zest. Olives. Into a hot oven. Done.

What happens is the gnocchi goes golden and a little bit crisp on the outside, but stays so...

Impressing friends with one's cooking skills is truly one of life's joys. Yumi has found a new way that is super easy and you probably have 90% of the ingredients already.

BELINDA JEFFEREY's CHEESE BISCUITS

Combine all the dry ingredients: 300g plain flour, 50g Self-raising flour and a teaspoon of salt. Add in 2tsp mild chilli flakes.

Mix well in the food processor.

Add 40g freshly grated parmesan and a whole grated block of Mersey Valley (250g).

Add 250g cold, cubed butter, whizz the mixture. It will look crumbly...

Yumi organised an adult playdate for HERSELF with a friend for some cooking fun.

It didn't work out exactly to plan but they *did* get to make this amazing gnocchi from Ottolenghi's 'SIMPLE'.

You can find a full version of it in this article - and Simon's recommendation is that you roast up a sweet tomato sauce alongside the gnocchi and then serve with a rocket salad lightly dressed with lemon juice and good quality olive oil.

And here is the SURVEY that we'd like you to please fill out!

It's time to fancy up your humble piece of fried salmon with a recipe from a cookbook that's a couple of years old but Yumi dusted it off and has been cooking from it quite a bit in the past weeks. It's - OTTOLENGHI's 'SIMPLE'.

Simon has good news if you're a fan of the cookbook and its author...

And you can find the salsa and salmon recipe here.

Do you feel like filling out a survey for us? Will help us make better shows. Click here xx

...

Yumi is threatening to host a dog re-naming ceremony to honor Norweigan striker, community boyfriend and everyone's emotional support Viking, Erling Haaland (it's not her hound so technically NO, and also, just no.)

Simon, meanwhile, has been impressing adults with this really easy-to-nail and incredibly yummy Marmalade Self-Saucing Pudding,

RECIPE: Marmalade self-saucing pudding

Serves 4–6

Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease a medium baking dish.

In a bowl, mix one cup of self-raising flour, half a cup of caster sugar and a pinch of salt.

In...

Yumi and Simon have been watching the World Cup football and it's been both fun and heartbreaking. If you're feeling bitter about Australia (or Japan, or Korea, Ghana, Canada etc etc), maybe you can enjoy the bitter feeling with the perfect winter salad.

Crunchy Bitter Winter Radicchio Salad

Toast a half cup walnuts in a dry frypan.

Set aside.

Tear apart a head of radicchio lettuce. Finely slice a small fennel bulb.

Peel two whole oranges and slice into neat discs. Retain any lost juice then add to...

ARE ALL RICOTTAS CREATED EQUAL?

It's a question to kick off today's episode.

Yumi has also been entertaining one of her besties, and whenever she comes to visit that means it's time to revisit the legendary Spanish dessert Burnt Basque Cheesecake. I've been making this for quite a while using Nagi's recipe, but after a visit to unmissable Redfern eaterie, Flyover Fritterie, I was inspired to try adding saffron, rosewater and cardamom.

To make it, follow the directions from Nagi's recipe but use these quantities:

500g ricotta

2 x...

ORZO TRAY BAKE WITH FETTA AND PEPPERS

Turn oven on to 220C.

Quarter 4 peeled red onions, one whole chilli, one roughly chopped red pepper, and split a head of garlic across the hemisphere of the bulb.

Drizzle with olive oil then roast for 20mins until the onions are cooked and the veg are starting to char.

Add in a tin of cherry tomatoes, a tsp of nigella seeds and a tsp of crushed coriander seeds.

Cook for 20 more mins, squash the tomatoes now on the back of a...

Simon and Yumi belly-laugh over some food-related nonsense and it's contagious, so listen if you need to get some sunshine today. Yumi also shares a bit about what happened at her recent (and very fancy) birthday lunch.

And maybe you also need ...chocolate cake? The quite legendary CHOCOLATE CAKE recipe from the wonderful Helen Goh can be found here.

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Yumi and Simon haven't seen much of each other recently so have much to catch up on, including what's going on with Yumi's extremely adoring foster dog, a fantastic Japanese snack that her kids LOVE, and what to do with that leftover chilli oil you've had cluttering your pantry ever since the Great Chilli Crisp Oil Fad of 2014...!

If you want to buy the crunchy "osembe" crackers, they look like this. They're not available at all Asian grocers and the lesser imitations are distinctly LESSER - so make sure they're Japanese and make sure they're Shoyu...