I get such a buzz, a real sense of satisfaction from being able to cook pretty much whatever I feel like eating, along with any requests from my family. Sometimes the food is fancy, other times it is simple but still tasty. This would have to be the biggest advantage of being a decent home cook. There are of course exceptions…

Pizza. Wood-fired. Best enjoyed at a reputable, popular pizzeria which boasts a proper wood-fired oven from which emerge the most glorious, thin crusted mouth watering pizzas, steaming and ready to be devoured. When I feel like pizza we head off to Caffe Moretti in Leichhardt. I have made pizzas from scratch in my home kitchen and although tasty, they still lack the distinct slightly smokey, crispy, aromatic flavour and texture. Plus it takes an enormous amount of time to turn out enough pizza with home simmered sauce and various toppings for a family of eight. 

Another exception is Asian cuisine. Although I do make a perfectly acceptable fried rice, selection of stir fries and steamed dumplings, once again they are not authentic. Oh and don’t get me started on the amount of chopping, slicing and dicing for a large family. The steamed dumplings, noodles and Peking duck at Mr. Wong restaurant in Bridge Lane, Sydney really hit the spot and due to an allergy, I can be assured that they are nut free.

This evening I really felt like eating thinly sliced veal marinated in fresh rosemary and lemon juice then simply flash fried in a dab of butter and olive oil. 

I teamed this with my favourite veggie of the moment – roasted baby beetroot, tossed with flat leaf parsley with ricotta and vino cotto. The beetroot was peeled, washed and wrapped in aluminium foil with a shake of cinnamon, salt, pepper and olive oil and popped into a 200 degree oven for 40 minutes. When ready, I simply sliced each ruby round and added it to the other salad ingredients. 

I was so looking forward to sticky roasted sweet potato. I baked a large, diced sweet potato with Spanish onion for 30 minutes at 200 degrees, with a dash of maple syrup added for an extra 5 minutes at the end. This beautifully complimented the veal and beetroot. 

My six year old daughter Sofia adores creamy mashed potato – she could easily commandeer the entire bowl for herself – so I also made a pot of this, adding thickened cream and butter and mashing with purpose until super smooth and fluffy. I had a head of soft green oak lettuce left in the fridge which I dressed this with verjuice and added it to our family dinner feast. 

There is one tiny piece of veal left over from this evening’s dinner, which I’m sure Sofia will slip into the breakfast bowl of our Spinger Spaniel Tara. It is no wonder the family pet is most attached to this little one.