Matt Preston: Recipes from The simple secrets to cooking everything better

Chicken thighs in hoisin peanut paste

Serves 4-6

160g salted peanuts
250ml hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons salt flakes
8 chicken thighs fillets, at room temperature
1 very large handful of chopped Asian herbs (Thai basil, Vietnamese mint or coriander in any combination)

Preheat the oven to 200C and lightly oil a baking tray.

Using a food processor, stand mixer or stick blender, blitz the peanuts until they become a fine meal. Add the hoisin sauce, vinegar, salt and a little warm water, if needed to loosen. Tip into a large mixing bowl, add the chicken pieces and rub them all over with the paste.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the paste is all dark and bubbling. You can always give them a quick blast under the grill at the end to create those dark bits.

Scatter the fresh herbs onto the chicken and serve with sautéed Asian greens or a crunchy Asian salad.

NOTE: If you use a suitable brand of hoisin sauce (like Changs), this recipe is gluten free.

Puttanesca-baked white fish

Serves 2

extra-virgin olive oil
salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
2 × 180 g chunky white fish fillets (such as blue eye), all skin and bones removed

Puttanesca sauce:

1 baby fennel bulb, finely sliced (fine young fronds reserved)
½ red onion, sliced
200g cherry tomatoes, pierced
4 garlic cloves, smashed
salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
6 thyme sprigs
2 ½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
250g (1 cup) crushed tomatoes
120ml wine
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
1 ½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
70g pitted kalamata olives
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained

Preheat the oven to 200C.

To make the puttanesca sauce, place the fennel, onion, cherry tomatoes and garlic in an oven-to-table baking dish. Season with salt and pepper and scatter on the thyme. Toss everything around in 2 tablespoons of the oil, then bake in the oven for 20 minutes. This lets you get a head start on the other ingredients that don't take as long.

Meanwhile, combine the crushed tomatoes, wine and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the vinegar and season just a little.

Pour the hot tomato sauce over the hot vegetables in the baking dish and scatter in the olives and capers.

Lightly oil and season the fish. Nestle each fillet down into the hot sauce in the oven-to-table baking dish, leaving the top of the fish just peeping through the sauce.

Bake for about 10 minutes. Don't overcook it! Remember that the fish will continue cooking in the hot sauce after it comes out of the oven. Sprinkle on the reserved fennel fronds and serve immediately.

Flourless chocolate cake

Serves 10-12

200g dark coverture chocolate, chopped
120g unsalted butter, chopped
5 eggs, 3 of them separated
30g Dutch-processed cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
250 g castor sugar
100g almond meal
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 × 250 g punnet blueberries, to serve

Preheat the oven to 175C and grease and line a 23cm springform cake tin.

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a large heatproof bowl set over a small saucepan of just-simmering water. It's important not to allow any steam or water to get into the bowl. (To avoid this, try melting the chocolate and butter in the microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring in between.) Remove from the heat, stir well to combine and leave to cool.

In a separate bowl, use a hand whisk to combine the two whole eggs, the three egg yolks, the cocoa powder and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Fold in the almond meal, then stir in the cooled melted chocolate mixture until just combined.

Make sure you have a large bowl that is completely clean and dry. Add the egg whites and cream of tartar and whisk to soft peaks with an electric mixer. Fold into the chocolate batter immediately, a third at a time, until just combined.

Pour the cake batter into your prepared tin and bake for about 25 minutes. Turn off the oven, prop the door slightly ajar and leave the cake to cool completely.

To serve, release the cake from the tin and transfer it to an attractive cake plate. Dust it with the extra cocoa powder and pile on the blueberries. You could also use raspberries or strawberries ... or even a mixture of all three! But that would be far less classy.

TIP: More often than not, flourless cakes are better the day after they are made.

The Simple Secrets to Cooking Everything Better, by Matt Preston. Plum. $39.99.