Lucy Tweed’s Instagram account @everynightoftheweek is full of recipes for people who don’t like recipes. The food stylist, writer and consultant shared some of her top tips for loose and easy cooking with Broadsheet last year.
Now she’s jumped out of our phones and into bookstores with a new cookbook, Every Night of the Week. And while there are proper recipes now – meaning an itemised ingredients list, quantities and step-by-step instructions – Tweed still encourages cooking by instinct and taste rather than following everything to a tee.
“Cooking times are just a guide and so much comes down to common sense,” she writes in the book’s introduction. “For example, don’t walk away when frying or browning. Use your face to judge it – eyes, ears and nose. I taste marinades and sauces as I go, searching my palate for the missing seasoning and adjusting the ratios.”
The pretty, pale pink book is divided into recipes for certain days of the week (although really, you can whip each one up whenever you want). Friday is for fun DIY meals and snacks with the family, like pizzas or vegemite popcorn. Sunday is for leisurely brunch and lunch-dinner comfort food. Tuesday is all about efficiency, while Thursday has a dash of laziness.
This recipe is from the Monday section – when the shopping’s done; the herbs are fresh; the pantry is organised; we’re refreshed from the weekend; and energised enough to take on a fun cook.
That means a salmon bowl with crispy fried skin, jammy eggs, creamy avocado, lots of veg, an easy rice shortcut and a tangy Asian-inspired poke bowl dressing (with plenty of leftovers to drizzle over your eggs, toast, salads and more).
Lucy Tweed’s crispy salmon bowl
Serves 4
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
600g salmon fillet, skin on, pin-boned
1 tbsp olive oil
1 avocado, quartered and peeled
2 tbsp black and white sesame seeds, toasted
1/4 cabbage head, thinly sliced or shredded
250g microwave brown rice
6 radishes, shaved
2 Lebanese (short) cucumbers, shaved
2 spring onions (green part only), sliced
150g edamame, shelled and cooked
1 packet of crisp seaweed snacks
100g store-bought seaweed salad
2 tbsp pickled ginger
Coriander leaves
3–4 boiled eggs (boil for seven minutes), peeled
Poke dressing
1 tsp honey
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
125ml mirin
3 tbsp soy sauce
80ml orange juice
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp ginger, grated
2 tbsp spring onions, sliced
1 tsp sesame seeds
Optional:
Togarashi
Furikake
Wasabi
Kewpie mayonnaise
Method:
Warm honey slightly to loosen.
Place all the dressing ingredients into a jar and shake well to combine. This recipe makes 1.5 cups – you’ll only need half a cup for the salmon. Store in the fridge for up to a week.
Starting with a cold pan, add the oil then the salmon, skin-side down, and fry over medium heat for 5–7 minutes until the skin is golden.
Flip the salmon over and take the pan off the heat. Allow the residual warmth of the pan to cook it through. (This results in medium-rare fillets; cook it for another 2 minutes before removing from the heat if you prefer it cooked well).
Let the salmon cool, then remove the skin and break it into bits. (If it’s not crispy enough, fry it a little more first). Cut the flesh into cubes and toss with some of the poke dressing. Keep the rest for drizzling over the salad.
Dunk sides of the avocado in cool water, then dip in sesame seeds to coat.
Microwave the brown rice.
Assemble everything else (except the eggs), like a grazing platter.
Before serving, cut the eggs in half lengthways and place on top.
Note: Seven-minute eggs work well if you’re at an altitude similar to Sydney. Boil your water. Take the eggs from the fridge and prick the fat ends with a pin. Lower them into the water then start your timer. Drain, cool slightly and peel. The higher the altitude, the longer you’ll need to boil the eggs.
This is an edited extract from Every Night of the Week by Lucy Tweed ($35), published by Murdoch Books.
Looking for more recipe inspiration? See Broadsheet’s recipe hub.
