Yumi and Simon nut out the big questions on today's episode.

What IS the difference between a garnish and something bigger, like a handful of croutons?

Yumi will also talk you through a FANTASTIC cauliflower soup recipe which is easy (tick), delicious (tick), you could probably do tonight (tick!) and it is topped by the most unbelievably enjoyable garnish. (That is actually NOT a garnish.) Wait with baited breath to see if Simon can somehow incorporate his favourite ingredient into today's episode!

INGREDIENTS:

1 whole cauliflower (about 1.6kg), trimmed and cut into chunky florets

2 tins white beans, drained and rinsed

1 litre of chicken or veg stock

3 tbs sakè or dry white wine

2 tbs mirin

2 tbs smoked salt flakes (just use whatever you have)

2 tbs sprigs of fresh thyme

TO SERVE:

1 tub sour cream

juicy lemons

TOPPING

Plain potato chips

Fresh chives

METHOD

Combine everything in the INGREDIENTS list in your slow cooker, turn on 'LOW' and leave for 8 hours.

Blend everything until smooth.

Before serving, stir through the sour cream and lemon juice.

Top each individual bowl with crushed potato chips and a few snips of chives

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Yumi asks questions about olive oil, Simon answers.

There's A LOT to Olive Oil that we take for granted, but it's worth knowing why this is such an essential ingredient, how to get the most out of what you're paying for, and what to look for when purchasing.

Olive oil icing: 1 cup icing sugar + 1/3 cup of (good quality!) olive oil. Mix and pour over your carrot cake!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It sounds silly but farting is a genuine consideration in a lot of peoples' cooking, especially those of us with the most tedious of all the tedious food intolerances, #FODMAP.

Garlic and onion are the devil to our digestive systems and a "bad case of the farts" is way worse than it sounds!

BLACK BEAN RAGU - NO FARTS!

Dice 2 medium eggplant to a 1cm dice

Fry that off in a big frypan in 4tbs of HOT olive oil. Allow 10 mins to really get it soft and a little browned, shrunken down and looking edible and awesome.

Meanwhile, in a blender/food processor, whizz 1 tin of black beans, including the liquid, with 3 good-sized tomatoes, 1tbs white miso, 2tbs tomato paste, and 2 tsp of chilli oil (I use gochujang)

Add this to the frypan with a second tin of black beans, this one drained and rinsed, and 200ml stock.

Allow to cook down for another 5-10 minutes.

Serve on rice, pasta, polenta, toast or on its own.

BASED ON AN ORIGINAL RECIPE FROM Bee Wilson 'The Secret of Cooking'

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.